Final Fantasy XVI had potential, but not a single one of them was properly executed.

I really wanted to like this game, but it made it so hard for me. So, so hard. The pacing in this game is probably one of the worst things I have ever experienced. After the 5 year time skip, it gets SO formulaic. After each big event, everything gets downhill, because you have to talk to Otto and do a shitload of mandatory side quests, fetch quests disguised as main quests.

I played on action-focus and the game was easy from the very beginning to the very end. There was one little exception, that was an S rank hunt where I died once. Other than that, way too easy. And even dying once doesn’t mean it was hard, unexpectedly strong would be more fitting.

I don’t mind simple combat systems as long as they’re fun, but I used to get burnt out from FFXVI’s combat system after gaining either Ramuh or Titan, because it had no interesting mechanics whatsoever. For example, the materia system in FFVII made the combat and gameplay and VII so much more interesting. The quartz system in Trails, the Monado or Blade system in Xenoblade, all of them are interesting mechanics within the combat or gameplay, but there’s nothing like that in XVI. But I guess the Eikon battles are highlights, they’re fun.

The characters are as flat as they are boring, with Cid and Mid (how ironic) as the only exceptions. Clive is one of the most boring protagonists I’ve ever seen, Jill is FF’s most boring love interest, I hate how one-dimensional she is, she deserved so much more (at least her beautiful design makes up for it a smidge), Barnabas aka Fake Malos just wants to f his mother, Kupka just wants to f Benedikta, Ultima is just a very poor version of Zanza, Joshua seems to be a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, returning from the “dead”, running around with a hood and acting all mysteriously and all the other side characters in the hideout aren’t even worth mentioning. There are also no character dynamics. You always talk to the characters alone. For example, you go to Vivian, she explains you the current state of the world, then you go to the in-game loremaster to ask things, instead of gathering the characters in one place, so they all talk to you and with each other. No party, no dynamic. It feels so lifeless.

The side quests are absolutely horrendous, optional or mandatory. There are about three side quests with an interesting or a surprising plot, but all the others are just MMO fetch quests, which is not surprising with Yoshi-P as the supervising producer. Please don’t let him touch another FF game ever again (except for MMOs).

The soundtrack… is a bit more complicated. The songs are fantastic. They’re of high production value, they sound great. But they also sound so similar. You will never recognize a song by the first tunes like you do with One-Winged Angel, Cosmo Canyon, Prelude, Aerith’s or Tifa’s theme, Zanarkand, Otherworld, Auron’s theme, Waltz for the Moon and so on. They’re all just loud and pompous orchestrated songs with choirs.

I also hate how there’s no run button. Give us a dedicated run button for this slow fuck, god fucking damnit. This is absolute hell with all these fetch quests (and yes, I completed all quests and hunts). And there are way too few quick travel spots as well! It made me furious.

There’s lots of world building and lore in this game, which is appreciated, but also worthless if you’re doing nothing with it in the game. The world has nothing to offer. You can’t even VISIT the capital cities of each country, they only let you visit some uninteresting and unimportant rural village near the capital with more uninteresting but influential characters that give you a seal every time, so the locals know that these characters trust you. It happens in each of these rural villages. Formulaic, I told you. Imagine being able to visit the capitals, exploring specific districts, finding secrets, some shops, some cool quests, mini games like Chocobo racings, arenas, card games and whatnot, nice places with beautiful views. But nope. Nothing. The world of Valisthea has nothing to offer at all. At best some treasures with new accessories that give you half a second less cooldown for one specific skill (what the actual fuck).

The story is alright. It’s not a disaster, it’s between mediocre and good, I can live with that. Haven’t expected much more anyway. The ending kinda sucked, but I didn’t care anymore at that point anyway.

The visuals are great most of the time, but the animations in side quests, mandatory or optional, are pretty stiff, but oh well.

This rating is a bit generous, but I can’t say I regret playing this game, so I will stick with this rating. Thanks to Mid, she’s awesome and one of the better Final Fantasy characters overall, although not an S tier character, maybe A tier. Cid is an S tier character and probably one of the best Cids this series has to offer. So this game does have some redeeming qualities that justify my generous rating. I’m glad I’m done with this game, though, so I won’t be getting the platinum.

The game of all time. It is what Breath of the Wild should’ve been in so many ways, which is hardcore to say, since BotW is already a masterpiece, but it got almost obsolete with the release of Tears of the Kingdom.

It improved in so many ways. The best sequel of all time, without a doubt. It has been a very long time since I had as much fun with a video game like with Tears of the Kingdom.

Some flaws got taken over, though, I’m not gonna lie and I wish the surface of Hyrule got changed a bit more radically, but it’s alright.

The final boss is probably the best final boss in the entire series. Wow! This is what Breath of the Wild should have done with the final boss: having great and epic fights and amazing presentation.

I don’t know if I want the same Hyrule or map a third time, though. The next game better takes place somewhere else or has a brand new Hyrule.

The universe this game takes place in doesn’t save it from being a subpar game. Wish the game was like the first trailer has promised, but instead the whole open world is so stiff, static and inanimate. The story was bla and the game even failed to hit my nostalgic memories.

Best thing in the game is when one of the armors beat the crap out of the other armor, kinda made me laugh a bit.

Idk, kinda expected more. Not a total mess, though.

shit game
hate the v-tuber art style
hate the overall style as well
main character looks ass
don’t care if it’s an anniversary title, the fanservice is garbage
time wheel again
embarrassing plot and characters
the opening song is worse than the worst seven deadly sins opening

game looks unironically like it was developed with ai tools

AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is the perfect example of why not every game forcibly needs a sequel just because the first one did good.

I absolutely loved the first title. It’s very close to be a masterpiece to me. I rated that game a 5/5 (=10/10).

Its sequel, though? No thanks. I originally shelved it a few days ago, because it failed to thrill me, although the introduction was really good! But the case ended up being way less personal than the Cyclops Killings and it ignored a bit too much from the first game. At the beginning, the game asks you if you’re familiar with the first game and even if you say “yes”, Date appears as Saito Sejima, so he does not have his original body. The explanation for that is omega stupid. As I said, the story did not captivate me even a little.

I also hate how linear Nirvana Initiative is. When I shelved it, I just thought it is only like that with Ryuki’s past six years ago (because you can’t change his past like that, it already happened). But after taking it from the shelve and playing Mizuki’s path, I was just shocked. It’s still linear. The somniums are still linear and god, I hate how overloaded the somniums are now, even with the AI balls. No, I don’t want to explore every corner after every lock, just to make sure I don’t miss an AI ball. This is not Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Also, The likeable characters from the first game do not play a big role this time… which wouldn’t be a bad thing if the new characters were likeable, but Jesus Christ, fvck, they’re the most unlikeable characters I’ve encountered in a very long time. Kizuna and Lien especially. First one is a classist piece of trash and Lien is nothing but a damn groomer. What are the writers trying to tell me? Also, I don’t particularly hate Ryuki, but the trailers promised Mizuki and I didn’t get nearly as much Mizuki as I wanted. I didn’t really need Ryuki.

And while the first game was on constant horny mode, the sequel carries the horny to the extreme and I think it was unnecessary and way too unsubtle. Playing (not even just touching) with a statue’s wiener? Really? Tama being basically a dominatrix? It went from unsubtle horny mode to ugh.

And honestly, they could’ve SPARED me with the tamagotchi thing. I know it’s optional and I can turn it off, but as someone who is a completionist, it’s just annoying popping up every 20 minutes. The options between “complete the game and get annoyed or enjoy the game, but don’t complete it” is just bad design at this point.

To me, this is just a bad game. And I’m glad I’m able to ultimately drop games!