sighs When this was first released into Early Access, I would've given this game a 5-star rating in the blink of an eye. But although we knew that this was eventually going Free-To-Play, I don't think I ever could've imagined the depths of their depravity when it came to the egregious monetization of the game. Nowadays, it's difficult to unlock anything new in terms of items typical to a Life Sim of this caliber. Furniture, clothing, buildings, skins for characters etc. There's a certain rotation of "things" for those playing F2P, but it's very limited. I think the pressure to spend money to unlock anything mildly interesting is predatory and immoral.

This is the best rendition to play if you want to experience the A Wonderful Life story in all of its glory and then some.This faithful rendition takes everything you love about the original and expands upon it with well needed Quality of Life changes and new content.

I have to say though- if you haven't played the original, it's tough to say whether or not you'll like this game. This is based on an old game- and because it's so faithful to the original- it plays like an old game too. Farming sim fans that have only played modern farming sims might see this game and its lack of complex mechanics and they might find it boring. This is a slow, small game. Focused on a small sleepy town with basic mechanics. You don't customize your farm like you would in Stardew Valley. You don't travel to faraway places. It's you, your spouse, your kid, and the old folks in town.

Where the game shines is definitely your child. Unlike most farming sims, your child grows up. Their interests change, their personality changes. And they might grow up and decide- instead of inheriting the farm- they might want to be a musician instead. Or an artist. Or even an athlete. You watch your child from toddler to young adult- becoming their own person. It's unlike any farming sim out there. Likewise- the people in town change too. Some come and go. They get older. You spend a lifetime with them. They may not be super complex- I honestly wish there were more dialogue and even more cutscenes to flesh them out more- but regardless- you can't deny that they are memorable, strange people.

If you loved the original, you'll adore this. And if you've never played the original- and you're willing to play a simple game on a simple farm- give this a try.

There's always the hybrid crops, at any rate. That can get preeetty crazy!

It's all over the place...but I also think it's wonderful.

Some actual thoughts now that I've sat with it for a bit: I really can't disagree with any of the criticism I've read about FFXVI. The story really does lack a sense of identity of it's own and a lot of it's themes and ideas are under baked. The combat is satisfying and visually spectacular but doesn't really push it's limits far enough. Even something as minor as considering what element to use against certain enemies could have elevated the combat to a new level. As it is, you're basically treating every enemy the exact same way and with the difficulty being such a non-factor (at least in the standard gameplay modes) you just settle into playing the game on autopilot. They could have stripped out crafting altogether considering what little impact it actually has.

The story is...messy. A lot of interesting ideas are introduced early on that either do not get the development or sensitive treatment they deserve or are completely sidelined halfway through the story. Most of the main cast don't really have an arc and the resolution for the ones that do can feel unearned at times.

I don't know though, despite all that, this game really got me on an emotional level. I don't think enough praise could ever be heaped on the vocal and performance capture artists in FFXVI. It's really not an exaggeration to say it's some of the strongest performances by an ensemble in any game. They really elevate the hell out of that script. Not a weak link in the bunch! And despite some pretty big missteps in how this game treats its characters, it's clear that the devs care about this cast a lot. There's some really lovely interactions between Clive and the members of the Hideaway in the second half that really sold me on this little community that the devs created. And I'm not ashamed to say that I was moved to tears by the end.

So yeah, I'm a big ol' sap. Some fun combat, pretty visuals and a bit of light emotional manipulation is all it takes to get an 8/ 10 from me I suppose! But really, if you own a PS5 FFXVI is worth picking up on sale. The set pieces alone justify it imo and it's easy enough to skip past all the stuff you don't like.

I can't believe this game and Bayonetta 3 came out less than a year apart...

If I could describe this game to the best of my ability, it's kind of like you're riding a bike down a hill at full speed. As soon as you realize you're having a blast, all of a sudden a metal pipe clotheslines you and knocks all of you and both of your shoes off.

It opens to one of the most enthralling prologues to a game I've played of recent, with fun gigantic battles and fantastic orchestras that vibrate your nuts off. It's epic and mature, and I really enjoyed the more political aspect that the story of this one leaned into. It just unfortunately has horrific pacing.

The character's talk so slowly and there's so much exposition that's drawled out in explanations rather than shown. It sure as Hell makes the combat and boss sections way more exciting, but the abrupt fall into the most boring, endless MMORPG fetch quests and lore dumps made me speedrun depression, especially near the end. When it's finally time for that sick Kaiju battle theme song to start playing again, it's like getting cold water splashed on your face to wake you up. By far that is the worst thing about this game.

The combat for the most part is fun and flashy, but it gets so repetitive down the line. It's watered down and fairly bare bones for an RPG. It was okay, but I found myself wanting a bit more to play around with because there's so little powers you can use. The plot linearity didn't necessarily bother me at all because I feel like we've been getting assaulted by really shitty open-worlds lately. The areas are still gigantic and it was nice to take in the beautiful scenery for a change.

All of that being said, the story still goes pretty hard despite the pacing issues. The emotional beats did hit for me and Clive is a very refreshing protagonist for this series. You can tell that they put a lot of care in nurturing his relationships with the other characters to help bolster the themes, but I do wish that that care extended to some others. In my opinion, Jill is just yet another example of Square's inability to write women because she's basically cardboard. Honestly, a ton of the random as shit side characters get more development than her through the side quests, which is very weird.

Overall, it's good but it can be a bit of slog to get to the end. I don't think I'd ever replay it, but if I did, most of it is getting skipped in chunks.

This review is for Oscar. I liked the game, okay? It was fun to play and the story wasn’t completely convoluted and/or full of dumb words like pulse l’cie and fal’cie which is something I can really get behind. The active time lore thing is super cool (other story-heavy video games please take note).

I was happy to see that the women in this one weren’t “big booby lol” like ff15 and I had some hope in the beginning but they still managed to fuck it up. I mean, cool, thanks for giving them clothes this time and I don’t mean to be GREEDY but please can you please just please figure out women? I will help you, devs. Just write the part for a man and then give the man a softer face and some tits (but they don’t have to be huge - keep them proportionate to her body. and make sure to keep her clothes on). Done.

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.

I was going to wait until I get to the endgame before saying anything, but my gacha addiction has been surprisingly numb, and I'm probably not going to get there anytime soon, so I'm just gonna say my piece right now.

I liked Genshin but I have a lot of annoyances with it, to the point that I consider it a guilty pleasure. That is something I cannot say for Star Rail. It's a much more entertaining, focused and leaner game in every way.

The combat system is slick, flashy, and has more than enough depth considering its mobile game nature. Only thing holding it back is the gacha systems, of course.

While the overall story and world lore seems just okay, the writing for the character dialogues and environmental interactions are quite well done, especially in regards to the absurd "zoomer" sense of humor. They also addressed one of my biggest complaints with Genshin, where older characters would just cease to exist in the game world until another event that involves them pops up. Now you can get messaged by them in game as a daily thing, which is very cool. Even if there's a limit to this, I still consider it a big W. The writing style is still very "trash", as in exaggerated and full of unnecessary flowery words, and it's not gonna be for everyone. But as a trash enjoyer, I consider this to be good trash.

As someone who is not the biggest fan of the BOTW approach on open worlds, I much prefer the detailed and tightly designed smaller spaces that Star Rail offers. I guess it's closer to something like DQXI, although it's not as good.

The one thing that disappointed me is the music/soundtrack. I remember playing Genshin back when it only had up until Liyue content, and even back then there's a lot of great music. Meanwhile in Star Rail, the only track that I would legitimately say is great is the main menu track. The battle tracks are good, but not listening-to-it-on-its-own good.

Lastly, Mihoyo are still the kings of character design in the anime gacha space. It's like they got the scientific formula perfected after making a deal with the devil.

All I'm saying is that Star Rail is an actual good game, very much worth trying out. Also, Himeko best girl.

"fuck it, finally a fantasy"
~fred durst (2021)

consistently fun but bogged down by way-too-frequent mmo-esque fetch quests, a dogshit main antagonist and jill's comical lack of characterization

when it hits though, it really fucking hits. clive is a terrific lead, (kupka is also a fantastic rival) every major set piece manages to one up the last and the combat, while a bit easy for an action game absolutely braindead, is really fucking fun

only ps4/5 game thus far to feel like a truly "next gen" experience and a crystal clear reminder of the heights this series can reach when it's not rife with developmental problems

edit: that last line is still mostly correct but not in the way i'd like. it's certainly next-gen in terms of scope and scale with regards to spectacle, but the actual writing is piss poor. this was very much a honeymoon game and ng+ made it clear. xvi feels like a first draft

A limit that is pushed, but not broken.

There's no doubt that the game is visually breathtaking. Each ember that radiates from Phoenix's wings or Ifrit's hands are as palpable as the real deal. Particle effects through intimate clashes of steel and magic fill up the screen in dramatic and stimulating flare. Each unique environment within Valisthea gets pretty close to reality breaking, if not for the giant spiders and occasional Chocobo. Even in 2023, there aren't many games that I personally believe look so graphically intense on the PS5, but this game genuinely seems like it utilizes almost all the capabilities of the upgraded hardware. But that's pretty much it's only unique identity.

In fact, I'd say most of the game is devoid of one. That isn't ENTIRELY a bad thing; it wears its influences and ideas on its sleeve with pride. The issue is that rather than being a proper amalgamation of those influences, it comes off more like a Frankenstein of those ideas that seems a bit too excited to display those influences instead of presenting a completely exclusive and engaging experience. A key example here is the combat.

It's not without merit, the combat. Clive has the ability to do some interesting things with a meager standard combo that is only built upon as time goes on and you unlock more Eikon abilities, but the ceiling is still incredibly low. Initially I thought that the combat was bare-bones without the execution or player incentive to explore more, and while that notion wasn't entirely unproven by the end of the game, I still found myself trying to take all of the abilities to their brink, with some success. You'd be hard-pressed to discuss this game without discussing Devil May Cry; both share the same battle designer (Ryota Suzuki), after all. Elements both in practicality and style are all over the place (Helm Splitter, Enemy Step, Judgement Cut End), but it leans more towards that style and less towards that practicality.

That being said, it isn't trying to be DMC. The comparisons aren't unfounded, but it's an RPG and not an action adventure game with the purpose of being extensible in battle. When the situation arises for it, you can respec and adjust your abilities for the occasion. In that sense, it does well.

I think my biggest problem is enemy engagement. The standard grunt enemy feels to be placed as to activate a neuron and a mini-boss only to activate two. The bosses lack positional awareness and spam the limited pool of moves they have with abandon, ever so slightly increasing the frequency and potency as death draws near. I had only died twice during my entire playthrough and in both instances I wasn't engaged in combat at all because there is no proper threat of death in this game, even with the final boss. Nothing here is challenging, nothing here is rewarding. It does not help that gearing is practically useless, as crafting weapons and defenses come only with positives and no negatives, making every conflict a bore at the most. Not even the S-rank hunts could satiate this; an increased health pool and more damage is not enough variation to satisfy what I am looking for. But the same cannot be said for the Eikon fights, which are easily the best aspect about this game. Grandiose spectacle that is usually coupled with a phenomenal composition and direction which hasn't been matched in any recent JRPG release, withstanding FF7R. I don't have much to say because they are experiences to behold, and make up for any lack of enjoyment that takes place during the mostly mundane standard combat.

The cast is at best extraordinary and at worst indigent. Characters like Joshua, Dion, Gav, Cid, and Byron showcase the best of Kazutoyo Maehiro's work as we get to see not only how nuanced each of these characters are, but how formative they are to the total experience of this adventure. Each of these characters bounce of Clive extremely well while going through their own personal dilemmas and struggle or refine their ideology within their world. Characters like Hugo, Barnabus, and Ultima fall completely short for me in terms of resonance and cohesiveness, which I feel is the result of a lack of proper engagement with their perspectives and dogma.

The gameplay loop is also something that is excruciatingly boring. Glorious crusades are undercut by fetch quests, mob waves, mini-boss, which leads to the actual boss, then the Eikon fight, and then repeat. The first half of this loop is only exasperated by the extreme amounts of dialogue. In the beginning, I found all of it extremely impressive, as the voice work is done well and fits within the landscape of the game. But it is too extensive, and toward the final 5 hours of the game I found it imperative to skip over dialogue that did little to add anything to the story.

I mentioned the identity aspect at the beginning because it's a big talking point about this game. Other people seem to think it's a stark detraction and while I don't entirely disagree I think it's a bit more nuanced than people would like to admit. Re-imagined fanfares sound like crutches that hold Soken's production back but the insistence of seriousness makes it feel alien as there isn't ever a time to kick back and relax with your party. This is just an example, but the point I'm trying to make is that instead of being something that defines itself as a Final Fantasy game, it takes the philosophy of other works and attempts a fusion that isn't without hiccups. That in of itself can be discussed if that is what truly makes it a Final Fantasy game though.

I even consider the narrative to be half-baked; it presents so many interesting ideas with the hierarchical nature of its society and alludes to the parallels with our world with Dominants being weapons of mass destruction and the Mothercrystals/Blight being a look at our own society's uses of fossil fuels and the ensuing damage but doesn't take a proper stab at any of these things. All that being said... this game has some phenomenal moments that shine brighter than a lot of its flaws, and concludes with class.

It's so close to being amazing, but I can never say that I didn't enjoy myself.
3.5/5

Clive “Mine’s Bigger” Rosfield is the himbo hero Final Fantasy needed. I just wish the story and themes built up around him weren’t held together with elmers glue and scotch tape. In lieu of any well-articulated thoughts (DeviousJinjo’s writeup and the Insert Credit episode on this capture my feelings nicely), please partake of some stray notes:

There’s still some quintessential FF-ness here—I felt it most in the spirit of the cinematics and the moments when pretty people say pretty things to one another while rapturous music accompanies them—but I found myself sorely missing a substantial party dynamic or sense of exploration

From a character/writing standpoint, every single woman in this game was a mess of squandered potential (Mid being the possible exception—and aided by her distance from the spotlight)

The combat’s good fun but feels stretched thin over the game’s runtime; however, the boss-to-scrub-encounter ratio was seriously impressive

The villain is such a snoozy bag of nothing, but there's an amazing part where he affectlessly says "such foul attaint may not be sublimed through gainstanding" while going super saiyan...I don't think even Joyce could keep up with this guy

And to end, a dumb analogy:
Cid : FFXVI’s story :: a mother crystal’s heart : the rest of the mother crystal

I gotta be super specific about this.

The Just Dance live service client that 2023 Edition exists on and the JD+ service is currently lacklustre at the moment with an inferior user interface and missing over 600 songs from the Unlimited servers the previous games had access to.

The scoring's gotten worse too, but eh, I felt like that started happening in 2021.

2023 Edition in of itself however, as in the "on disc" songs we've been given this year are phenominal and are absolute peak Just Dance with a wonderful selection of songs, gorgeous MVs that use the new "3D worlds" recording technique and the Danceverses playlist that introduces a light story mode incorporating a few of the songs this entry brings.

So long as you're buying it purely for the 2023e on-disc songs, it's the best in the series, but anything else will disappoint.