I'm pretty disappointed, but not fully. I do think there's some to like here. The story, at least the first half, is engaging. And the the music is superb. (I believe Soken is a worthy successor to Uemastu) There's also a lot of frustrating choices and "cheapness" that sully the experience. And I don't think the "mature" themes are gracefully articulated.
But I got to get the worst out of the way: quests. I guess Yoshi P thought that MMO quests were the way to go. The whole game runs on them. The quests continue the miserable trend that XIV, FFXV and FF7R helped popularize: Lifeless NPCs enthusiastically asking us to gather-a-thing or kill-a-thing or kill-a-thing-to-gather-a-thing for (mostly) meager rewards. XVI does inject some interesting story bits into their side quests, but it still doesn't elevate the mindless chores you need to do to get there. (Everything is marked for you. Just go through the motions.) Both side quests and main story quests are guilty of this. There's no difference in how they operate. Worse still, the general populace of NPCs all look like they belong in a renaissance faire, not Final Fantasy. It's just so jarring.
Compounding this problem is the lack of variety in things to do. Before this we had the Golden Saucer, Triple Triad, secret dungeons with optional goodies, Chocobo Racing, blitzball, even an auction house! In XVI we get... a hunt board. What do these Fable outcasts do in their free time besides drink and fuck? Do they play cards, do they write music, do they have underground chocobo fights?
Other things that bother me that I won't get into: Crafting is half-baked and shouldn't even be in this game. Dungeons are just like FFXIV dungeons (i.e. not good) - hallways with gauntlets of enemies and bosses, with a big bad at the end. The world feels pretty unimaginitive - every explorable location outside of the hideaway just looks like a generic village or field.
Battle system is fun, but once you lock down a set of abilities that can do 100k+ stagger damage, there's nothing to dissuade you to do anything else. The lack of complexity begets repetition, despite the polish. That said, XVI has a lot of bosses and S Ranks that keep you on your toes and are a thrill to fight. It's just the in-between stuff that feels a bit stale. I wish there were loadouts you can switch around for different scenarios, like a set for mobs and a set for bosses.
Eikon fights are full-blown spectacle. Take the Bahamut v. Alexander battle in FFIX and crank to to ELEVEN. Absolutely insane sometimes.
Better than XV at least. There's no American Express logos in this one. Flawed in many ways, but hopefully pivots the series in a more artistic direction.
But I got to get the worst out of the way: quests. I guess Yoshi P thought that MMO quests were the way to go. The whole game runs on them. The quests continue the miserable trend that XIV, FFXV and FF7R helped popularize: Lifeless NPCs enthusiastically asking us to gather-a-thing or kill-a-thing or kill-a-thing-to-gather-a-thing for (mostly) meager rewards. XVI does inject some interesting story bits into their side quests, but it still doesn't elevate the mindless chores you need to do to get there. (Everything is marked for you. Just go through the motions.) Both side quests and main story quests are guilty of this. There's no difference in how they operate. Worse still, the general populace of NPCs all look like they belong in a renaissance faire, not Final Fantasy. It's just so jarring.
Compounding this problem is the lack of variety in things to do. Before this we had the Golden Saucer, Triple Triad, secret dungeons with optional goodies, Chocobo Racing, blitzball, even an auction house! In XVI we get... a hunt board. What do these Fable outcasts do in their free time besides drink and fuck? Do they play cards, do they write music, do they have underground chocobo fights?
Other things that bother me that I won't get into: Crafting is half-baked and shouldn't even be in this game. Dungeons are just like FFXIV dungeons (i.e. not good) - hallways with gauntlets of enemies and bosses, with a big bad at the end. The world feels pretty unimaginitive - every explorable location outside of the hideaway just looks like a generic village or field.
Battle system is fun, but once you lock down a set of abilities that can do 100k+ stagger damage, there's nothing to dissuade you to do anything else. The lack of complexity begets repetition, despite the polish. That said, XVI has a lot of bosses and S Ranks that keep you on your toes and are a thrill to fight. It's just the in-between stuff that feels a bit stale. I wish there were loadouts you can switch around for different scenarios, like a set for mobs and a set for bosses.
Eikon fights are full-blown spectacle. Take the Bahamut v. Alexander battle in FFIX and crank to to ELEVEN. Absolutely insane sometimes.
Better than XV at least. There's no American Express logos in this one. Flawed in many ways, but hopefully pivots the series in a more artistic direction.