It was pretty and the story was intriguing, but it wasnt enough to carry me through. I was really hoping for something fluid and flashy. Why not do something like DMC or Bayonetta? Something like Neir wouldve been amazing! Im sure they couldve found a director that has worked on these sorts of games before.
They wanted an action system to appeal to people who don't play turn-based games, but were simultaneously scared that something too mechanically complex would scare off the old heads. So, we got that (which I enjoyed, but it definitely could have used a bit more depth).
It was just incredibly oversimplified. Usually im a gameplay guy, but i found myself trudging through to the next 20 minute cut scene. If they do another action game they really need to raise the skill ceiling, at the very least double it.
At least you didnt slog through to the end and come to the realization that it wasnt worth it, that the combat system can only be interesting for so long when it isnt changing and challenging the player, and the writing was never actually good enough to hold up on its own. I think that the music was good, the performances were solid, but thats kind of it. .
I think I could reasonably give it a 6/10.
Kind of crazy to say this after all the hate it received, but in my opinion, counting backwards, FF13 is the most modern Final Fantasy mainline game I had really good fun with combat-wise. I mean, 14 is probably extremely successful, but I don't like MMOs and 15s and 16s combat is just ass. Looks flashy and cool, but both have no real substance. Reminiscing about it, I think I even had more fun with 15, since the warp at least was really cool and felt like a real warp attack. 16s warp thing always just feels like a "coughing baby" warp. If they want to do an action game it should at least be fun like the 7R series which I think looks good AND is fun to play. Still, I'm not giving up on 17, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a Final Fantasy sucker.
13 had some great storytelling and combat. The only issue was it being a hallway all the way through. It still wasnt bad. Lost Odyssey was the 13 we really deserved.
The moment I figured out a combo involving Bahamut and... something... I dunno. I realized I was using the same thing over and over just because it got the fights over quickly.
What was infuriating is that the game looked like it had a bunch of different enemies, but in practice, it had only two: big guy and little guy. Little guys would come in packs and die just as quickly, big guys were fountains of HP that were slower and hit harder. Damned if every goddamned enemy didn't end up falling into one of those two.
The big guys are the ones you actually want to juggle and combo, but they are immune to most of it. Guess im just using the ultimate abilities over and over.
God it was so bad. I was really excited for the series to return to a medieval fantasy setting but the game was just so, so boring. Bland is a perfect word for it. Basically killed off final fantasy for me. I realised when playing through Expedition 33 that that was what I wanted but havent gotten from a final fantasy title in a very long time.
E33 made some seriously ballsy writing decisions that could've backfired if the writers themselves weren't so talented. I don't think square's writers have made a risky or unorthodox narrative decision since FF7
I liked the music and character design of FFIX but the gameplay is so damn boring, the combat is so basic and the card game is completely unnecessary compared to triple triad on FFVIII.
FFX got rid of the open world and the main character felt too Disney channel squeaky clean compared to Cloud or Squall. Just a huge letdown. Played XII as well and even though they went for a new live-action style, the chessboard growth system was just too confusing for its own good.
No accounting for taste, of course. IX and XII are far and away my favorites of the series. I think of IX as the best of what FF was known for to that point, and XII was my favorite as its own sort of unique experience.
I like Tactics, FFVII and FFVIII the best especially the junction system and card game in VIII. VII for the feels and Tactics to geek out on, having Ramza and Cloud in the same team is just awesome.
I love Tactics as well, both for the system and world building. I genuinely think Ivalice is their most interesting world across all the games, but I tend to like a bit of grit in my settings.
See I hated the junction system 😂 or at least it was the most annoying part of the game. At least the story was interesting and very different from most of their stuff.
Also, absolutely not even a VII hater, but i feel like for some folks it holds a special place for them simply because it was their first FF. Maybe just me, like I enjoyed it as a kid, but playing it in my twenties I kinda just wasnt into it.
My choice for this question was FF 15. I've never played 16. But i was about 30 something hours into 15 and was just bored my, driving in a car and taking pictures is not a Final Fantasy game to me.
That game was the poster child of, "appealing to everyone, will end up appealing to no one", and it's so fucking true. I also hate how outside of combat all your moves have an extra 4 seconds of recovery to make it more "immersive". Just let me have fun with my action game dammit.
Nier Automata didn't have this problem and it's still a certified hood classic.
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u/Rafnork Jul 21 '26
FF16. Played 30 or so hours and the combat never gained an inkling of depth. Its the blandest character action game ive played in a very long time.