Poll: How Was Final Fantasy 16's State of Play Showcase?

Not watching because everything I’ve seen so far has convinced me to buy it already.

Really, really enjoyed it. Roll on June.

The game looks phenomenal! I really want to know what the mention of "endgame" means but I'm not going to spoil myself with any more footage.

I thought it looked pretty darn incredible. With this and the Tears of the Kingdom trailer earlier it has been some Thursday

The game still looks fantastic, but none of this was necessary. I get Square wants to show off the game and the fact that it actually got done on schedule for once, but restraint is the name of the game at this point.

It has the potential to be a system seller title..fingers crossed that they learned something from CDPR side quest quality.

Is it just me or was there really not much about the RPG elements?

That is one overwhelmingly positive poll.

It was excellent though I feel like there's so much that they've shown in this presentation, particularly the Eikon battles. I feel that those could have been more epic if we experience them 1st time. I know I should've just avoided this but was tempted to check this presentation and it's still going to be epic once I get there though. My only disappointment is that no demo was announced but that's just a personal gripe.

This game look amazing I can’t wait for June.

Wasn’t going to watch it wasn’t going to buy it b/c it’s not my idea of FF but when a game looks that good I’ll just forget what it’s called and have fun playing it. May not preorder though, I don’t trust Squenix to get it right day 1, but we’ll see how it’s doing by Black Friday. Unless my kid wants it before they go to college.😉

Fun fact, just found out the icons were spelled Eikons. I’m still calling them summons tho b/c I always call them summons.🤷🏻‍♂️

The only thing I can do at this point is cancel my pre order and pre order it again!
Seriously though, between this and Zelda, it is going to be a legendary gaming Summer!

Not really into RPG's....until i saw this.

@Corc11 I have a feeling that there isn't going to be a ton of actual RPG stuff as they were talking about an actual "game plays itself" mode. You can tell straight away who this game is for, and it not the people who really want a deep JRPG Final Fantasy game.

I loved seeing clive and Jill and all the npc interactions lol. Also boo, I loved the tone of the sergeants voice in the reveal trailer when he says "you all know the target". They made him sound more calm here

It was pretty good but not really needed. I feel like everything they showed and talked about here, they had already done so with the pax stream just condensed to 20 minutes. It was still nice to see some scenes with extended context.

@Corc11 no it definitely wasn't you. There was not much in terms of RPG there. honestly I don't know the game is flashy for sure but I just did not sway some of my concerns one way or the other. Much of that was just a really long glorified trailer, most of which we've already seen.

Some of those really long, not really talking about anything stints of combat were absolutely spoilers. I was kind of pissed about that. He was like roll the tape... Then proceeds to show you like a dozen or more of the possible friggin boss/significant characters you're going to be fighting.

I also worry about the visuals. it LOOKS like this game could easily run on PS4. In some regards it literally looks like a slightly higher resolution forspoken to be quite honest. Am I the only one that thinks the visuals were underwhelming?

I am hopeful it all pans out but I don't know..... there wasn't a whole lot of explaining RPG elements or exploration whatsoever in fact they kind of just doubled down that this is just a straight action game I mean you're just unlocking skills in a skill tree.

I was hyped for a second there when they specifically mentioned talking about RPG elements as well as them talking about characters and stuff that you were meeting so I thought maybe they would go into like more depths on whether or not there's conversations with player choice or you know other actual RPG elements I don't know man doesn't seem like it. I assume there is no armor, and we saw that maybe there are different weapons?

It looks cool don't get me wrong I just don't know if it necessarily looks like a Mainline Final Fantasy game or just a final fantasy spin-off it looks like an action adventure game with a little bit of Japanese Flair.

Despite whether or not it's an actual RPG or even a Final Fantasy game the one thing that I found concerning even as an action game is just all of that mess going on when you're fighting. it looks a lot like Forspoken's messy and low res particus effects. being very granulated and low rez to the point that it doesn't necessarily compliment or make the fighting action look better and instead looks to muddy up combat encounters so much as to make it difficult to discern what's goin on.

It was just an okay showing for me, if not leaning toward disappointing slightly. You really can see they are hoping for a generic AAA westernized big budget hit, lord knows square needs a hit, but I don't think gutting their most prized franchise was the best avenue to do this....

I hope time proves otherwise, but I do appreciate it being better solidified as to what this is, and is not. At this point if there was much more to the design and structure they would have heard the murmurs of some and laid such things to rest.

If it's an awesome action adventure, then sweet, bring it on.

Going with "good." It did an excellent job of showcasing the various elements of the game, but the last section with the Eikon battles went on too long.

As for the game itself, it looked... eh. So far, none of the characters stand out, they Paper Mario'd the party system (going from full parties of characters to Clive + an NPC that attacks on their own), and combat still looks too character action-esque for my liking.

The epic orchestral music is obviously pretty good, but I hope the soundtrack is strong in other areas too.

Nice to see the marks/monster hunting side-quests are back. Those were a lot of fun in FFXII.

Overall, still not really wowed by this.

There’s a part of me that wants to watch the showcase badly. But there’s another part that says: “You’re already buying this Day 1. Go in as fresh as possible.”

It’s obvious Final Fantasy 16 is taken a of lot inspiration from super successful western games like god of war and the Witcher 3. You Final Fantasy old timers gonna have to get your classic Jrpg style game fix from the pixel remaster collection.

I forgot about it and watched Magpie Murders instead 😁 maybe I will look and see if the world alone can draw me in to an RPG series I've never tried before

I assume it was better than the Lord of the Rings: Gollum pre order trailer that dropped today-ish though? "Looking like game of the year" - Tech Raptor 😂😂😂 Tech... Raptor 🦖

@get2sammyb I actually have no issue with them going for Lite RPG elements. I'm getting too old to spend hours RPG in a game, and kinda like that this one pushes for a bit more action over RPG. To me it definitely looks like a Witcher game with a bit of Final Fantasy/FF14 flair.

Big Dub. Can’t wait to play

@KundaliniRising333 "I also worry about the visuals like this it looks like it this game could easily run on PS4 it literally looks like a slightly higher resolution forspoken to be quite honest. Am I the only one that thinks the visuals were underwhelming?"

TBH it looks like a higher resolution and quality FFXIV. I know that they won't tell us the engine. But I still have a feeling it is running on a heavy modified FFXIV engine which explains the move from open world to the large areas with map travel.

But the FFXIV engine is technically a hybrid engine of the Luminous engine and Crytal Tools, so that can explain why it looks a bit like Forespoken

@AverageGamer yeah I think I've heard that before that the running consensus is that they're using some sort of hybridized version of luminous engine and like you said Crystal tools. You could really see like the forespoke in similarities in the larger pulled back views of the actual environments in Worlds but it was very similar. I haven't actually played Final Fantasy 14 after it was fixed I think I played it when it first came out way back and I just couldn't get into the the time sync it needed but yeah I don't know it just seemed a little underwhelming it seemed like a love child of at least forspoken and Final Fantasy 15 but as far as next Gen,.. not so much.

Which is totally fine if it's just a great game to play.

@get2sammyb if that's what it had, then it pretty much lines up with a lot of the older games in the series where all you really do is equip the best in slot for max def and atk and spam your strongest attacks but since you don't have a playable party you can't manipulate the stats for each individually which is to be expected cause they went for a different type of combat

Other than that, I'm still seeing a party of heroes roaming some insanely gorgeous landscapes on foot or on chocobos (possibly even a ship?), meeting different npcs and creatures, taking on quests for them, fighting and hunting classic monsters from the series, using summons that are still as epic as ever, with a fantastic soundtrack with new and familiar tunes, and most likely a very gripping story. Just another entry in this RPG series known as Final Fantasy lol

@KundaliniRising333 As someone who dumped over 500hrs into FFXIV. There was alot of similarities in gameplay shown especially with the boss fights in the areas. At some point, I was just like "Isn't that just an area/fight from one of the trials in FFXIV??"

The game's only current platform remaining outside my scope of reasonable usage as a home console without decent RP options, I don't have much of a stake in the matter (and there is plenty to keep me busy in the franchise for the visible future as it is - continuing XII, Type-0 and XV, finishing Revenant Wings, replaying XIII saga and Dissidia 012, properly starting Crystal Chronicles and restarting Crisis Core on Switch... you name it), but my only personal concern from the early announcements - that the game would end up a solo gig without any semblance of a party - has successfully dissipated at the sight of what evokes various FFXV, Tales and Code Vein vibes at different moments, with some Bayonetta or Warframe tier spectacle mixed in. Although I'm still scratching my head at thr insistent marketing of "first truly ARPG Final Fantasy", especially given the aforementioned XV vibes (and maybe even some from VIIR going over my head because I have yet to play it). In the end, something new, something familiar - which is how Final Fantasy has always grown. There are even apparent aerial combat sections that can vaguely remind you of Drakengard!

The base of operations has a lot of promising stuff as well, including even what seemed like a sort of Xenoblade-esque NPC network at a glance. Between all this, the teased lore (which looks like the most emphasis on eidolons the series has had since IX and X) and the story premise... No telling when I will ever get to play this game, but I certainly expect to enjoy it.

I've preordered since day one because it's a PlayStation exclusive, it's got some Forspoken vibes and if it runs in 120Hz, it'll glorious. And of course, this game is going to infuriate the PS/Switch/Steam/Atari/Sega/Xbox fanboys, hahaha... I've noticed that PC/Xbox fans are so vocal for games that cannot run well in theirs platform and they aim to ruin it or to make it fail, talking about Forspoken, Callisto Protocol, among others. So, it's good to have some PS exclusives back...

I pre-ordered the game and do not want to watch; however, I was weak and it was the most entertaining thing I watch this year. This game is simply superb.

Looks amazing but the combat will be too hard for some people. Seems harder than Elden Ring if you don't get good.
And I have a feeling many won't get the hint about the easy mode (aka accesibility items).

This is not an RPG, this is not Final Fantasy, full stop.

That's not too say it doesn't look like a good game for the popcorn action flick it is and that doesn't mean I won't buy it, on a decent sale, but it's not an RPG, and you can't take the 16th entry of the most famous RPG series and just make it not an RPG. The team deserves praise for making a good looking action adventure. Heads should roll at marketing for calling it ff16.

@get2sammyb Every time i see that fight with the Malboro. I'm just like "Are we sure that this is FF and not the Witcher?" That fight is gonna give me nightmares for months. x-x

Oh wow. This looks absolutely insane. I only need to see final fantasy on the box in order to buy it, but this surpassed any expectations, and alleviated any lingering concerns that i had.

THIS is the game that will truly justify my purchase of PS5 and should easily be in the running for game of the year. I truly cant wait for this one!

Thing is.... all that glitz and action and they called him....clive 🤣

@NEStalgia Unfortunately, I doubt heads will roll. This will probably end up being the most successful Final Fantasy in years simply cause Yoshida is attached to it, and the man has a massive fanbase that swoon over him.

@NEStalgia I think it's just confirmed that Final Fantasy only exists now to hurt me. I really hope they don't screw up Dragon Quest too. That would REALLY hurt me. Final Fantasy I can live without. I mean, I've basically been living without it for fifteen years already.

@SplooshDmg They've already said the new Dragon Quest will be "darker" and "adult-oriented." I'm fully convinced it's getting the FFXVI treatment, lol. Especially if FFXVI sells particularly well. Gotta sell blood, misery, and photorealism to the gaijin. Get that puff-puff animu nonsense outta here!

@Ralizah Yeah, yeah. I know. Which is where my concern stems from. What part of I like cringe anime nonsense do they not understand? I don't care about their financial success in the western markets. I care about puff-puff.

Gaming since the 80's but still never played a FF game. This will be the first! Two thoughts came to mind during this Livestream. One - if From Software games had accessibility settings like this they would sell twice as much. (You can still play on hard git gud crew!). Two - I'd love contemporary games to implement a dynamic HUD that you only see briefly when you press and hold say, up on the d pad. Or you hold it once to view the HUD and again to dismiss it. I love to play games with no HUD and tried it in Hogwarts Legacy but briefly need to remind myself of ability assignments or see enemy damage. Thoughts?

Didn’t watch it.

I’m one of the few who were wondering what anybody saw in the first couple of trailers that was impressive.

It wasn’t until the first press previews came out that made me interested. If it wasn’t going to be turn-based combat, then going full-action combat is a better choice than the combat systems from XV and VII Remake that tried to be somewhere in-between.

The PAX panel was presented poorly, in my opinion, but what they showed looked good enough. I don’t need to know any more about it until reviews are published. And then it will still be a one or two year wait for it to be fully patched and at an affordable price. 🙂

@get2sammyb I think more complicated RPGs are making a comeback lately, I don't think it's consistant across the genre any more.
Which is great imo, I love them. They don't have to to sell mega millions, just keep the budget down, most old school RPG fans don't have cutting edge graphics as a priority anyway.
I don't know why square can't make an old school ps1 era style final fantasy game with the budget of something like say octopath traveller. A lot of people would be happy with that.

@KaijuKaiser do you have any interest in dragon quest games. Wanting to annoy an audience just to enjoy the reaction sounds pretty toxic yourself.

Jesus, rewatched the 4k version Thinking maybe it was the live stream that made some of it look so underwhelming.

Nope,.. Some seriously low quality character models and texture work in a ton of the footage. Even more convinced of luminous being partly in this engine after reexamining the environs on display;extremely similar to Forspoken...

Surprising how this looks given It is ps5 native title.

This is still 100% an RPG and it looks amazing and will definitely be one of the best selling final fantasy games ever. But I also understand why some people moan as I've played most of the games in the series and every new entry has changed it's combat style since 11, which old school players of the first 10 games would obviously disagree with the new style. I feel like square believe that turn based games would not do well in this generation of new gamers and people prefer action combat, but the success of Pokémon, Dragon Quest and Persona say otherwise. I think they need to take that risk with Final Fantasy 17 and go back to old school turn based combat (no ATB crap).

@Ralizah I doubt they plan on Dragon Quest going down the route of Final Fantasy 16, I think it will still have it's charm and usual aesthetic but maybe include adult themes like Persona does.

Damn.....I know I've been super negative on this game, but this looks quite slick. Its nice to see the PS5 finally breaking a sweat!
It's so over the top, like Michael Bay's Final Fantasy, but in the best possible way. That soundtrack is great too. The only problem, for me anyway, is that during combat there's is so much ***** all over the screen, I could barely keep up with it lol
Oh and definitely would choose Japanese voice-overs, providing that's an option.
But yeah, this looks pretty cool.

@AverageGamer Yeah, it angers me. Deception wins every time. It's angering. I don't have a problem with the spinoff, looks decent, but I have a major problem with the deceptive marketing yet what angers me most is that people are eating it up with glee and defiance angry 🤬

I truly don't understand the yoship obsession. He's an MMO guy that was infatuated by wow and swtor and wanted to push mmo success in Japan. He's known for a single game. He hasn't even been involved in that game much considering he's been doing this game for years. Where is this blind kojima like worship coming from? He's not a legendary developer like miyamoto, sakaguchi, or, even the controversial nomura. Hes far less vetted in general or in ff than kitase. he's created zero ip, he's never even made a single player game or at least none of significance, he's literally a random typical mmo dev who's name is known from association with one popular mmo. Where the heck is this celebrity worship surrounding him coming from? The ff fandom is more cringe than any anime trope they could have put in the game. It's Pokemon/smash/Undertale level cringe but triple the average age. I truly don't understand it.

@KaijuKaiser It's and article asking for opinions. If you don't want to hear other people's opinions.... Maybe push shouldn't ask what people think?

Game looks incredible. Already have mine preordered!

@NEStalgia I guess the obsession comes from the fact that he was able to bring one of the worse MMO on market back from the grave and make it the biggest MMO on the market. While also making it one of the best modern Final Fantasy to date.

It helps that he extremely down to earth and honest with his player base which isn't often seen from Business suit guys in the game industry much anymore, and he actually plays the game he makes.

While other companies are posting the same copy and paste statement for game delays, and not owning up to their mistakes. He owned up and took full responsibility for Endwalker delays and cried on stream in front of millions.

I mean... this video is good example of why we swoon over him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFdAMng4Cc&ab_channel=PopoJagaimo

@AverageGamer The man is a legend. <3

@rjejr Agree with the not FF part. Where are the white mages, dark mages, other job classes, and it's non-turn based? Excellent looking game. Great trailer. It's not the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of FF, but I'll still buy it and play it. Maybe there's something there that will be more FF than what I'm seeing.

@KaijuKaiser change will bring debate though, 'if it looks good' is very much personal opinion. Nestalgia has been one of the wordier dissenters, but they do represent a lot of people.
Final fantasy is a huge part of a lot of people's lives, they are going to complain if they dont like how it's going, personal opinion isn't gatekeeping.

@UltimateOtaku91 DQ games often feature pretty bleak plot developments as is, though. If they're not going to significantly alter the aesthetic and writing, I can't imagine what else that would mean.

@Smiffy01 110% sure that was the most American name they could think of. I'd be more concerned about where Cloud came from? Definitely funny what that word means today... a long time after FF7.

@Corc11 Because it's an action game at core, with only some RPG elements. Unlike the most popular FF games before it.

@Impossibilium This is the way.

@KaijuKaiser No one is saying Final Fantasy can't change. My favorites in the franchise are 6, Tactics, and 12. Which are all wildly different. However, you're the one gatekeeping with the insinuation that fans of RPGs have to be thrilled about a historic RPG franchise essentially turning into a hack n slash RPG-lite. I don't like hack n slash games. I hate Devil May Cry. I hate Ninja Gaiden. I hate Bayonetta. Heck, I don't really like God of War (which is what this looks like more than anything else, to me). More over the top action does not make a better game imo. I'm entitled to that because I know what I like. Nothing about the production here looks anything short of great, but this direction just doesn't do it for me. If I saw a trailer for this, and it wasn't titled Final Fantasy, I would have zero interest in it whatsoever, because the only interesting thing about it to me right now is that it IS titled Final Fantasy.

@KaijuKaiser I mean... He is definitely most likely a workaholic. TBH you have to be a workaholic to survive in the game industry. To make matter worse, he is Jaapanese and from my limited knowledge, and what i've heard. The Japaense work environment is super brutal.

@NEStalgia no offense dude but you are grossly overstating how people are obsessed with yoship when it's really just respect and confidence that the guy (and everyone else on the team of course) can put out a great product and there's been nothing from his past works nor trailers for his next work to make people doubt it yet

And with that, you are also grossly understating what he's done for the company and the one mmo that's currently being enjoyed by millions. You can see it all over the internet just how bad FFXIV 1.0 really was. It was burning money for SE. It can't be said enough how much of a disaster it was much like their movie endeavor. And here comes a guy (and the team obviously) that just completely turns it around to the point where it's now one of the main pillars that keeps them afloat? That counts for something. He's not just a typical mmo dev. And the thing is, it's not just a one time thing nor is it just about the money. Him and his team have now released 4 expansions to said saved mmo. Many liken these expansions to full fledge entries into the series themselves and for good reason. And each one has been very well received by critics and fans alike while also making bank? Its really not hard to see why people have a lot of faith in him

Gonna say very good. I want to pet the wolf!

Once I saw "Mature", with "Strong Language", among other stuff, I was skeptical (if I really need to hear cursing, I can go outside in public and listen to countless inconsiderate uneducated teens to 30-somethings). Now that I've seen the video, I'm convinced I want nothing to do with this game. Overly busy, flashy, noisy, just a pure assault on one's senses that comes off as painful.

@KaijuKaiser oh the big spectacle battles were for sure impressive. It all just looked so low resolution. The environs specifically looked very Forspoken like and sterile and man some of those textures when they were showing the different elements of the hideaway were very basic and low quality textures.

I'm sure it will look fine enough overall though. I just worry considering the engines they are using. As I thought Forspoken and FF 15, had very lifeless and bland worlds and art design.

My first $70 game. Someone went did it.

Just glorious, looks very fun.

@doctommaso

To be fair, Final Fantasy VII had a ton of foul language back in the day.

It helped me develop my cursing skills as a kid lol.

Looking back, Cid Highwind was a huge influence on me long term. He was a smoker; I’m a smoker. Cusses like a Marine; I cuss like a Marine. Mechanically inclined and liked tinkering on stuff; I’m the same way today. Obsession with aircraft; I have an obsession with aircraft.

Once they gave him a voice they gave him a thick southern American accent. I have a pretty thick southern accent lol.

@tselliot

Final Fantasy hasn’t been truly “turn based” since FFX. XIII was turn based at its core but you had no direct control over your party members outside of changing the Paradigm so it was drastically different than previous turn based FF games.

Once they merged with Enix Square sort of relegated the turn based gameplay to Dragon Quest and focused FF on being drastically different between installments from a gameplay standpoint.

I don't know, didn't watch it. I don't need any story spoiler, I'm already in after the previews from before 😅

I would say my only visual problem with this game is that the character models seem like a big downgrade from FFVII Remake, which genuinely still has the best character models I’ve ever seen in a game.

They still look great, but they don’t hold a candle to FFVII Remake’s character models.

Imagine the state of play was in 1080p. Had some scenes where action was really fast paced and was not looking good in the shown FPS. So looking so much forward to 60FPS and whatever resolution we will get. Cannot wait to play this masterpiece!

I didn’t like the combat- it looks like it’s devolved to hack and slash. I’ve cancelled my pre-order and I’m going to wait for a review

@tselliot yeah I get that but what was the point in saying it will go through the RPG elements when there are like zero. Just seemed a strange thing to announce when there isn't any

I am torn. I like some of what I see, I am a big Devil May Cry fan, but this is really not Final Fantasy, at all. It doesn't even look like an rpg tbh. I just hope the combat is as deep as Devil May Cry and not a cut back basic version, or what's the point.

The other suprising thing was how "forspoken" the environments look, doesn't scream next gen.

Still cant decide if it's going to be amazing or dissapointing. We will find out soon enough

@KundaliniRising333 yeah, I hear you. The town's look absolutely stunning but I feel will be kind of wasted on an action game. While I don't mind the action route so much, I just find it weird that since the end of the PaxEast panel, they've been bringing up showing off RPG elements and there was zero ha!

In regards to how it looks, I'm torn. It all looks great to me EXCEPT from the character models. They honestly look lifeless and are really Plain Jane looking excluding Clive. And those face tattoos look AWFUL!

I did love however that the lure guy seems to be the same voice actor (or atleast sounds the same) as Maechan who tells the lure in FFX! Nice touch.

@get2sammyb very true but I've not even seen anything that tells me if I get to make even one story altering decision for my character 🤣

@AverageGamer honestly, I don't need deep JRPG. But don't promise me an update on RPG elements and then don't give me any!

@Corc11 looks like "there are no RPG elements" spam what you are saying 4 times in a row .

Here are my two cents

Pro:
1.I love the music,environment and overall atmosphere of the game, it is definitely true ti final fantasy in that regard
2. The story seems to be much more interesting this time around. And the dev seems to be interested in giving us a well thought out story, instead of what we got in FF13 and FF15.

I am also a fan of the age progression thing they will do, but I would be lying if I didn't think that they should have kept it as a suprise for us when we play the game.

Cons:
1. The character design is still to subdued for a final fantasy game,imo. People who hate anime might like that, but it makes the characters lose their final fantasy charm, and when it comes to Clive, look boring AF imo.

Noxtus crew looks cooler than Clives crew.

2. The character models look somehow less impressive than Final fantasy 7 remake. Check Clive and Jill's reunion, their facial expressions doesn't match their emotions.

3. Not being able to control other party member. If FF15 could allow us to do this(albeit later via an update), then I see no reason why we can't do it in FF16.

Maybe they fear having gameplay systems for party members would be detriment to the story, since we will be playing Clive at his various ages?

What I am unsure of:

1. Hack and slash DMC combat. I don't dislike that combat, but for an rpg I do prefer turn based, because hack and slash does get tiring when playing 100+ hours rpg. So we will see how enjoyable the DMC gameplay is.

2. The enemies do look spongy, which isn't good, but the boss battle looks cool and epic.

3. I do like that it isn't full on open world, but does anybody else feel that it looks kinda dry at times?

Anyway, all I know is that this game is going to be a success.
From its marketing, to it being hailed the final fantasy game that everyone has been excited for since slice bread, to it revamping its gamplay to match that of a popular franchise like DMC , to people praising it looking more western and less anime(the anime hate is still real,lol), and finally it being a Final Fantasy game in general,will help it break alot of sale records.

Will the story be great?Will Clive become an iconic MC despite his subdued look? Will the DMC gameplay satisfy even the most loyal turn based fan? Will it be the game to finally meet expectations for SQ sales fantasy?
Well ,we will find out in June.

My bf is a huge final fantasy fan, I've played a couple of the games but I wouldn't call myself a fan. I now think I'm more excited for this entry than him

The amount of gate keeping in this comment section is crazy. I'm so glad I can enjoy games without over analyzing what genre it is, whether it is worthy of a brand name etc.

Still seemed to dark and brown in a lot of places the bits where they did show lush green spaces they did look very nice just didnt really show a lot of them it was like 5 seconds of nice environments 2 more minutes of drab brown and dark environments. I presume this is done to make the lighting effects on spells/special attacks look better. The normal enemies look to spongy which I think will hurt the combat in the end especially if your expected to play 80+ hours of DMC style combat. Overall still not won over I feel this should be a spinoff game.

Watching this again today, im even more hyped for this. The music is just sublime and i cannot wait to add the soundtrack to the collection.

I think we are all in for a real treat with this game. I'm expecting to see alot of 10/10's here.

I dont get this argument that this isn't a final fantasy game - i've played them all, and this feels as much part of the series as any other. I can see influences from 10 (sphere grid), 12 (hunts), 13 (elements of the battle ui); and too many nods and Easter eggs to mention relating to the games that came before. Final Fantasy is more than just its combat system - which always mixes things up each game anyway. And i really don't get the argument that this isnt an RPG. It very clearly is, and loads of other RPG elements havent been revealed yet.

I'd urge those on the fence to at least stay open minded and give this a go. I think you'll have a great time here.

Loved it. Great deep dive showing what you are getting.
I was convinced anyway, but I'm even more convinced now!

@OrtadragoonX That's funny. lol. Honestly, I don't remember there being bad language in FFVII, but I played it only once something like 26 years ago. Still, it wasn't spoken/heard, and I bet FFXVI has way more. Hard to say at the moment, I guess.

The comments are more mixed than I expected.

As for me, I was properly impressed. Of course I was hyped about how Forspoken looked at face value too. But I do really like the aesthetic of the game, even if it does look a lot like it borrows elements from Forspoken and FF7R with the overdose of flashy particle effect HDR enhanced vibrant combat. It’s a visual sensory overload almost at times. But that’s life in the current gen and I’m getting more used to it. Having so many things going on simultaneously on the screen without having any frame drops is what it’s all about nowadays.

To me the really separation for this game will be if the narrative and character development hit or not. And there hasn’t been much shown to come to a conclusion about that.

Regardless, it’s a day 1 for me.

I was trying to resist watching to avoid spoilers but have ended up caving in and now I can't wait.

@KaijuKaiser Yeah, and to be fair, there’s probably an over-representation of negative impressions in the comment section as compared to the majority of readers who have filled in the poll, which is about 80% “very good” or “excellent”

After playing every single mainline offline game as they were released, I was already out on this before I saw this trailer, but if there needed to be a final nail in the coffin, the demonstration of the combat was certainly it.

If Square is just out on making party-based RPGs with slower paced combat, that's their choice. But I really hope that someone else picks up the genre and moves forward with it. Its been my main thing for over 30 years, and I'm afraid that its dying. I just can't do the button mashing super fast combat, and it holds no appeal to me.

Looking forward to this one. Glad they're trying new things with the series, but also going with an ancient setting. The combat looks a bit noisy for my taste but I can cruise through it on easy mode if I decide so later. Been a fan of FF since the SNES, but I just don't have patience for the turn based combat anymore. And the weird mix of action and turns in FF7R was ok... but I can do without that.

@TJ81 I agree on the immersive HUD. I want to say that Ragnarok had that option (it would only appear upon touching the touchpad or during certain occurrences in combat if I recall). I loved it in whatever it was that had it. I could look at it when needed and then let it be otherwise.

Can’t wait for Devil May Clive

Tuned in but only half paid attention to avoid anything sticking in my mind too much. Already sold on the game, and every time I see the combat I get more excited to try it out for myself.

I am low-key ignoring FFXVI because there are so many other games I'm interested in playing from now trough June~July that I'm kinda waiting for a sale on this one. That and the fact that FFXV released super unfinished, so it's wait and see for me. That said, I'm glad people are so positive! Definitely gonna keep an eye on reviews.

It looks good. It looks like it's just filled with boss battles. It looks like someone wanted to make a Witcher game and then slapped on some fancy FF stuff. I do like that it's going to be one character moving around rather than dragging three other AI around with me. There is defo too much on screen during combat. The screen is awash with particals and strings. It was getting in the way of seeing what was actually going on.

@DrGonzo It's a terrible mix, because it won't fail. It's a game precisely engineered for what the mass market wants with a marketing engine, coupled with the Sony marketing machine, that will make it a mass market game for the ages. What it isn't is an FF game or an RPG, and I don't understand the fandom bending over in knots to try to pretend it is. It's a new blockbuster action series from Square-Enix. There's nothing wrong with that, could be the best action series ever, who knows. The game itself doesn't necessarily deserve to fail if it's a great action game. And it's clearly what the masses want. And it'll be a top seller because of all that. And the lesson learned will be that this is the direction of FF from now on, to be a premier action series. It's over, FF is dead, long live FF.

What's unfortunate is based on the fandom not rejecting that I see no way to undo what marketing has now made. They can't and probably shouldn't be punished by the game failing if it's indeed a good game for its genre. And there's no way to make them preserve the FF brand for FF RPGs and create a new brand for their new series.

At the end of the day, Square-Enix simply decided integrity has a price, and they're going to sell. There's no integrity involved in selling a brand down the river just to jump start sales on a new product so they don't have to grow a new IP they can maximize sales day 1 by cannibalizing FF into it. FF is over. It's now an action series. That's it. But they'll keep hanging its corpse in front of fans with a new face stitched on. Really the best hope is that enough people within Square Enix that care about the traditional series split off and start a new company/series in the vein of FF. And not Octopath, those are budget retro games sold at high prices, not a serious attempt at an FF game.

But no mistake it's precision engineered for sales and critical reception. It will be praised, no matter what. Even if the endless button mashing for a large game gets tiring, because DMC combat was never meant for more than short action bursts, it will be glossed over because the tentpoles of "big," "pretty", "flashy", "high budget" will all be met and that's the checklist for endless praise. Few outlets will go against the grain, and fans have already convinced themselves that it's super ultra amazing and once that happens the game is super ultra amazing even if it isn't. If it manages to not be bad, and it probably will, it will be praised as transformative. There's a really, REAALLY weird impulsive emotional response in gaming.

The fandom is irritating more than the game at this point. I don't like what Square did with this, but the fandom is definitely Undertale/Smash level cringe now. Just scroll above, and look at how many people have decided it's a "masterpiece" "amazing", "GOTY", "GOAT", etc, etc, etc. Based purely on marketing and using the FF name there's a percentage of players have already decided it's an iconic game that all others are to be judged by. This hyperbole keeps fueling the conversation. Even if it's a really really good hack and slash game....does the genre itself even deserve that much praise? Transformers movies sell what the masses like, but it's not exactly Oscar worthy, and it's not trying something new, it safely does what is known to sell well without messing it up. I can't think of any other fandom for any other series that's quite like this one. It's truly bizarre.

@AverageGamer @Judal27 I can appreciate that people like him, but, again, we're talking now about what he did for the company, not about the game, but about financial results. And we're still talking about a guy who is known for ONE MMO game. Now don't get me wrong, again, I don't think it looks like he hasn't made a good game here, but what he's made is a game for a different series than the one it says it is.

But I'm not convinced about this limitless honesty. He made a game that's clearly a different game for a different series than this, but has never acknowledged it. It's a business decision to make money. You've already shown he's good at making money. He keeps dancing around the RPG aspects missing. He pretty much mocked critics, openly, at the Q&A, this is the guy that rejects the "JRPG" title in general while making the numbered entry for the series that defined the JRPG description to begin with, to the point he appears to have an agenda against the genre itself. And in his definition of what FF is, he never even once discussed gameplay, it was basically all about what makes it a good movie.

That doesn't really jive with this rose tinted view of him. Which is, again, entirely about fans of a single game with an awkward attachment to the director that didn't actually create the game design. Now, I dislike FFXIV, despite paying and trying many times. The UI IMO really doesn't work on a controller, the MMO bland "press buttons until character dies" combat (not YoshiP's fault, again, he did not design any of that!) and the dreary fetch quests (again, not his fault) coupled with the UI (not his fault) just make it a huge miss for me no matter how often I tried to get into it, but, even there, I hear the hype from the XIV fandom doesn't match with what I've actually seen from the game. I can't help but wonder how much of the XVI/YoshiP hype comes exclusively from this uncomfortable bubble of XIV superfans with very rose tinted glasses. I don't see this pedestal YoshiP is meant to be placed on based on that single MMO title that plays like it's a 1999 PC MMO. Which, again, he is not to be blamed for, it's not his creation, but then it makes me wonder why he's so beloved for business decisions that fixed a game that isn't really his game? He's a proven competent manager. He's not the writer, he doesn't design the cinematics, he definitely didn't create the gameplay or UI.

It's a side topic really, there's the issue that this game, good or bad, probably good, is clearly a new action series, not an FF entry and that's plain old dishonest to get sales. I'm not saying YoshiP is NOT capable of making an excellent action game or that this game isn't one, I'm just saying that the fandom keeps justifying their expectations of XIV based on the involvement of one guy known for one title, that's a very different title, and the gameplay of it is something he's not even responsible for (IMO that's a plus in his book, but still it means it's an unrelated source of generating an opinion.)

Let's put it a different way, if this same game were made by Nomura, not YoshiP, with all the same footage, would the opinions be the same? if the game were not named Final Fantasy and were not made by YoshiP but was the same game with all the same footage, would the conversation look the same?

I watched the gameplay parts of the video, and I’m still not sold I need to play the demo.

The combat really isn’t grabbing me (I’m not a DMC fan at all)
So I need to see how it feels first.
This game seems more like an action hack and slash game with rpg elements.
Which isn’t bad, but not what I’m looking for

I do like the people behind it though (the devs) so I hope it does well enough, although if all future ff games follow this blueprint I think I’ll move away from the mainline games.

@DrGonzo

He is right. You people with your old gaming grandpa purist mentality are the worst!!

You cry about a franchise that has changed maaaaannnnyyy times for the last 20 YEARS!!!!

20 YEARS!!! many many times

But you decide to cry NOW?! How? WHY?

Why not with FF11,12, 13,14 or 15??. WHY NOW???

GET OVER IT ALREADY!

@Allfather how to say you don't know what an RPG is without saying it. One of the fundamental things that makes a game an RPG is the focus on stats and strategy over raw skill. Even 15, which not many people would defend the combat in, didn't let itself go into full blown action mode - for example, to dodge you merely held down a button and you'd automatically dodge yet it'd drain your mana. That's not how dodging would work in, say, SF or DMC.

All of the games you just listed are light on fighting game type skills and heavy on stats, understanding and manipulation of those stats, and strategy with how your party is set up and how they work together. Seriously, go and read an advanced class guide for FFXIV and see how complicated it is. In this game everyone will have the exact same Clive and there'll be no depth to how you use him. Just dodge and counterattack infinitely.

XVI is as much an RPG from what they've shown as DMC. It shifts the focus onto twitch gaming and totally away from any class systems, party management, stat customisation and so on. It feels more like a fantasy Streets of Rage where you walk down corridors and beat up people by mashing buttons.

I'll be creaming my jeans day one on this game!

I played it. It was a fun little throwback to my teen years. But....it's pixel art, obviously.

Can we get a game like that with Horizon level graphics and voice acting?

@NEStalgia There is a lot to unpack here, but... Technically, YoshiP can be blamed for the "negative" of XIV: ARR. He was Producer, director, and designer for the game. 1.0 and 2.0 are basically completely different games. Much of the combat, UI... etc was complete overhauled with the move over to XIV: A Realm Reborn. The only thing that basically stayed from 1.0 was some characters and lore.

But it just sounds like you don't like MMOs.

"Let's put it a different way, if this same game were made by Nomura, not YoshiP, with all the same footage, would the opinions be the same? if the game were not named Final Fantasy and were not made by YoshiP but was the same game with all the same footage, would the conversation look the same?"

This is heavily based on who you ask and are we talking about the Nomura that gave us FF7 and Advent Children; or the Nomura that going to where with the narrative of Kingdom Hearts and gave us massive mess that is FFXV/Versus XIII.

@OrtadragoonX That's correct, and unfortunately one of the reasons I also haven't been excited about a FF game in a long time. I saw a Moogle in the trailer of this, but other than that, is there anything that really makes this a definitive FF game? Guess we'll see.

@tselliot "not FF"

What really bothered me the most about FFXV was the lack of non-human characters. Sure, FF has always been mostly human, 8 may have been all human as well but I was too madly in love w/ Rhinoa to notice, but there is always a creature or 2. FF7 obvsioluy had Red 13 the lion dog thing, 9 had Vivi the greatest FF cahracter of all time, X had Kimarhi the big blue hairy horned guy, XII had Fran the bunny girl, who was mostly human but come on, bunny ears.(I skipped 111 & 14) 13 had Hope the worst FF character of all time so I forget the rest. That 1 dude had a chocobo living in his hair so that should count for something. But FFXV was just a boy band. And I don't like boy bands. And 16 is just Noctis making a solo album. This entire game could have been Noctis missing years while he was on/in wherever.

Now I'm not exactly a furrie, I don't need a party of Pokemon, but give me a non-human main character to be intrigued by.

I was happy to see the mogul in Kaer Morhen, and chocobo music always makes me smile, the best part of FFXV, so maybe it all comes together in game, but it's still not FF to me. But on the bright side, more FF than X-2: Girl Dress-Up Party or Wiiware Shake Your remote Crystal Bearer (so, so, so bad), so gotta take the good game w/ the bad name rather than a bad game w/ a bad name.

I like what I'm seeing from the game but I can't help but wonder if the RPG part is getting lost with all the sparks and fireworks. Is there deep lore here that is being downplayed? What about the background characters, will there be side characters in the game with development? What they have shown just feels like spectacle over substance... idk. I will probably pick it up but I can shake the feeling that its going to be more DMC and not enough Final Fantasy.

@KidRyan Thank you, but I think I'm doomed because I watched it FIVE times (lol).