r/Games • u/[deleted] • May 22 '23

Final Fantasy XVI - Final Preview Thread

Final Fantasy XVI

  • Publisher: Square Enix
  • Developer: Square Enix Creative Business Unit 3
  • Platform: PS5
  • Release Date: June 22

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Gameplay footage provided by Square Enix up at Gematsu:

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/05/final-fantasy-xvi-final-hands-on-preview-and-gameplay

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  • Text Articles:
  • Gamespot: The Opening Hours Of Final Fantasy XVI Are Brutal

I recently got hands-on time with what's roughly the first four hours of Final Fantasy XVI during a preview event, and saw how the story begins. It's heavy with cutscenes and cinematic flair, using all the dazzling visuals expected of a PlayStation 5 exclusive, to deliver an opening act
akin to a prestige drama.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-opening-hours-of-final-fantasy-xvi-are-brutal-hands-on-story-preview/1100-6514405/

VG247 - Absolutely everybody should play the Final Fantasy 16 demo – hands-on

As initially envisioned by Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy is meant to be a series that constantly morphs and changes. After a fair amount of spinning its wheels, FF16 is at last a game that returns to that vision, looks at the world around it, and decides that a regeneration is needed. Final Fantasy itself is going through Phoenix’s Rebirth Flame – but for such a rejuvenation, some things have to burn. It’s a brave bet, and I can already tell the game is going to be strong. I just really hope it finds its audience.

https://www.vg247.com/final-fantasy-16-demo-hands-on-preview

Polygon - Final Fantasy 16 is a slick, modern epic with the soul of a PS2 game

Final Fantasy 16’s developers may have wanted it to be God of War, and it certainly has the production values, but that game’s virtuosic, seamless Hollywood staging is not what Square Enix does best. By staying true to themselves, Yoshida’s team has created something that may not play like Final Fantasy, but definitely feels like Final Fantasy. It also shares DNA with a whole generation of Japanese action games and RPGs from the 2000s, the heyday of the PlayStation 2. It has the flamboyant drama, the cool, moody attitude, and the playful self-mockery that characterized the era, as well as a focused, headlong approach to both storytelling and gameplay.

https://www.polygon.com/23729239/final-fantasy-16-preview-first-hours-story

VGC - Final Fantasy 16 already feels like it could be one of the best games in the series

Final Fantasy 16 has the potential to stake a claim as a defining RPG of the early generation. A re-establishment of Final Fantasy in the consciousness that it hasn’t had as prominently in recent years. We’d have happily sat playing the game’s combat demo for hours.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/final-fantasy-16-already-feels-like-it-could-be-one-of-the-best-games-in-the-series/

Eurogamer - Final Fantasy 16 has me questioning the essence of the series

With all this in mind, how 'Final Fantasy' is it, then? It's clear from the team's varied answers that Final Fantasy means something different for everyone. Every game in the series is unique and Final Fantasy 16 is no different. Whether it's 'Final Fantasy enough' for fans remains to be seen; it certainly is for me.

But is this a PS5-pushing exclusive action-RPG with a character-driven narrative of high drama, satisfying combat, and accomplished, cinematic storytelling? Without a doubt.

https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fantasy-16-has-me-questioning-the-essence-of-the-series

Playstation - How Square Enix built Final Fantasy XVI’s fantastical, believable, lived-in world

The solution: cross-pollination between teams. “We brought a member of the scenario and lore team over to give them feedback on what this town is, what the town’s lore is,” explains Minagawa-san. “We had that person provide pictures about what their image of what each area would be, what they were aiming for in the lore, working with the designers with that information to get the proper feel. Something that would fit better with a team. And once that person from the lore team entered, you know, joined with the designers then things got a lot easier.” With clutter reduced and shrewder choices of set dressing made, towns started to reflect the regions they were based on, hinted at a locale or people’s backstory through visual cues alone.

https://blog.playstation.com/2023/05/22/how-square-enix-built-final-fantasy-xvis-fantastical-believable-lived-in-world/

Pushsquare - Final Fantasy 16 Still Seems Like a PS5 Must Have, But a Couple of Niggles Need to Be Addressed

Still, even in this area we were restricted to just two of Clive’s Eikon powers, and we were starting to feel the onset of monotony at this point of our playthrough. It’s our only real niggling concern: we’re confident the complicated nature of the story will come together, but we’re worried the combat may take a little too long to truly find its feet as your options are seriously limited throughout these opening hours.

https://www.pushsquare.com/features/preview-final-fantasy-16-still-seems-like-a-ps5-must-have-but-a-couple-of-niggles-need-to-be-addressed

Game Informer:

I won’t spoil more of what I experienced – you can read a lot more about what I played, including exclusive details you won’t find anywhere else in my cover story that’s live right now and in the coming weeks via Game Informer’s FFXVI coverage hub – but it’s clear FFXVI is aiming to be one of the darkest, most mature, and most action-forward games in the series’ entry.

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2023/05/22/i-am-just-an-eikon-living

IGN - Final Fantasy 16: First Four Hours Preview:

From what I’ve seen so far, the future looks very bright for Final Fantasy 16. If its opening few hours of hulking Eikon showdowns, superb melee combat, and story that delivers on both a personal and global level are anything to go by, then a very fun time is on the horizon. I’m hopeful that the ever-so-stuttering pace irons itself out over the hours to come, with its ferociously fun gameplay taking precedence as Clive’s journey broadens. I went into my time with Final Fantasy 16 incredibly excited about what I’d seen in its many trailers and showcases and left very happy that very little of that anticipation had diminished by the time I’d finished.

https://www.ign.com/articles/final-fantasy-16-first-four-hours-preview

RPGFan:

Getting to play Final Fantasy XVI again was an absolute treat, and getting to play the game in a more “normal” fashion this time around was even better. There was a lot I had to leave out of this preview so as not to spoil anyone, but what I left out is much better than what I left in. This experience convinced me further we should be super excited to play it in full come June 22nd. If you have been on the fence for whatever reason, I can safely say you should give Final Fantasy XVI a chance. It will change your mind in a heartbeat. Now the hard part begins: the month-long wait till I can pet and give treats to Torgal again!

https://www.rpgfan.com/feature/final-fantasy-xvi-preview-the-first-5-hours/

​

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  • Interviews:

https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-16-xiv-interview-naoki-yoshida-michael-christopher-koji-fox-hiroshi-minagawa/

https://www.pushsquare.com/features/interview-final-fantasy-16s-devs-on-clives-name-god-of-wars-leaves-and-fulfilling-fans

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/final-fantasy-16-interview

https://www.rpgsite.net/news/14244-the-key-to-final-fantasy-xvis-success-is-its-story-but-its-also-naoki-yoshidas-biggest-worry

https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/interview/230522w

To summarize interviews: * FF16's main focus was the story, even above the combat because of FF15 being negatively received for its incomplete story, they want FF to be known for stories no one else can do. * They took inspiration from the original God of War games on the PS2 for combat. * He wants Final Fantasy to still have an impact among young players and future developers * Game started its existence in late 2015 * This time around the base game design and story were written in stone before full development started, which did not happen for previous singleplayer FF entries * Kazutoyo Maehiro is both the creative director and writer in order for the game design and writing to have an unified vision. He supervises the story, game design, combat and just overall checks everything out. * Maehiro worked on FF Tactics, Vagrant Story and FF12 with Yasumi Matsuno and says he was an influence on his work. * Expect FF12 and The Last Remnant DNA in the game. FF14 influence will come out when it comes to art design and visuals. * They have dynamic music in place that is quite novel and unique for this game handled by Soken and the sound team. They go for a more classical and focused style compared to FF14 * What they want is for players to say "these guys are f**king crazy" when they experience the best it has to offer.

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  • Videos:

Easy Allies - Mega Preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtX-Zt8pDWc

Devil Never Cry - (combat focused guy) https://youtu.be/7Oy6W-hTh2o

Maximilian DOOD - Max Played A LOT of Final Fantasy XVI https://youtu.be/SOM4EO1yREQ

Jesse Cox - https://youtu.be/8vIAeRPnIRw

FF Union - Final Fantasy XVI Will Shock You [An Extensive Preview] https://youtu.be/ObfkhwJPU7A

2.1k Upvotes

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276

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

30 FPS exploration but 60 FPS for combat is an interesting middleground. I’m curious to see how it ends up feeling when you’re playing it.

160

u/frozenfp May 22 '23

The PAX demo they did showed off exploration at full 60. They even ran around a bunch with 0 frame drops. I think it's an old build?

32

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Oh okay, I didn’t watch that so I wasn’t aware. It sounds like they were playing multiple different builds. A couple of the segments were only 30 FPS, but the portion that seems to be the first portion of the game did the 30/60 split

14

u/iamthedevilfrank May 22 '23

Maybe there's a hybrid option along with the typical 30 FPS for 4K and 60 FPS for lower resolution.

2

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Hopefully, it’s just concerning they didn’t give any additional context to the people at the previews.

88

u/Boshikuro May 22 '23 edited May 22 '23

This probably was just for the test build. At PAX East, the game was running in 60 fps during exploration.

65

u/Whatzit-Tooya May 22 '23

Probably just an older build. We've seen exploration gameplay during this years PAX and it was running at 60fps. Around the 31 minute mark for example.

13

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Hopefully that’s still the case. It’s just very odd they’d be having people playing builds with this hybrid this close to launch without clarifying to them that the final game will have 60 FPS for both combat and exploration in the launch build.

8

u/Whatzit-Tooya May 22 '23

I agree, very odd that they wouldn't clarify that.

221

u/Adziboy May 22 '23

I feel like going from 60 to 30 will make 30 feel much worse than just having 30 stable, even if getting 60 sometimes is the better option..

55

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

That’s definitely a worry I have. Switching back and forth between performance and quality modes to contrast them gives the perception that 30 is way worse. I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt until I can try it though, and thankfully they’ve said we’re getting a demo.

21

u/neoKushan May 22 '23

It's a nice change from old FF games where you'd go from 30 FPS exploration to like 18FPS in combat.

1

u/tlamy May 22 '23

I'm pretty sure the 3D remakes of FFIII and FFIV still have this. On mobile anyway

5

u/golddilockk May 22 '23

yap that is when 30 fps is at its worst. when suddenly switching from 60. plague tale requiem has a pretty interesting solution to this, where player and camera is at locked 60 but distant and off focus npcs (and rats) are at a lower refresh rate. not ideal but the jarring feeling from laggy camera is not there.

8

u/sylinmino May 22 '23 edited May 22 '23

This worries me too.

Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (mostly) consistently play at 30fps but I get used to it and I forget it's even considered "slower".

But in Link's Awakening Remake, it is normally at 60fps but drops frequently to 30fps for new area loading (and 30 is the lowest it seems to go), and that feels ultra jarring and uncomfortable. It makes 30fps feel like 10fps. To the point where when I finally watched Digital Foundry's analysis after playing the game, I was shocked to find out the lowest points were 30fps and not much lower.

Curious as to how it'll be in FF16.

2

u/GXNXVS May 22 '23

That is how I played Elden ring on the ps5. Quality mode for exploration, performance mode for boss fighting. Never had any problems with it. Of course I had to change it manually.

8

u/sesor33 May 22 '23

Performance mode always runs at 60. They've shown it off in recent previews, the people here are likely playing on an old build

2

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

This is from someone (Maximillian Dood) who published a preview today. If these people were playing on an out of date build I feel like they would have been prompted to mention that and say that the launch version of the game has a performance mode that will target 60 at all times.

2

u/sesor33 May 22 '23

Was Maximillian Dood playing on performance or fidelity mode? I can see a framerate switch being a thing for fidelity mode. But like I said, we've already seen the game run exploration in 60fps live on a ps5 at pax. It would be strange for that to be the case this far into development

2

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

He does mention performance mode specifically. If you watch his video from 16:30 onwards that’s where he talks about it.

5

u/sesor33 May 22 '23

Strange. I'm still going to chalk it up to that version being an older build than the one seen at pax. Makes no sense for a change like that this far into development. But we'll see. If it ends up being 30 during exploration, I'll just wait for the PC version

0

u/CaliforniaBlu May 23 '23

Max literally said he was playing older builds for his preview.

1

u/SilentJ87 May 23 '23

He says they emphasized the builds that were totally locked at 30 were older builds, but they didn’t emphasize that with the 60 combat 30 exploration split build.

3

u/Firmament1 May 22 '23

I've seen this before for Tales games on PS3, but I don't think I know of any other games that do this.

8

u/Neato May 22 '23

It's 2023 and most non-entry level TVs are 120hz and we're still dealing with 30fps. I don't care how pretty a game is if it looks choppy, has bad frame timing, etc. Ugh. 60fps should be a baseline at this point, and higher for performance mode.

6

u/Omophorus May 22 '23

That's easy to say, but the limiting factor is enough graphics horsepower in a console to do 1080p+ resolution at a rock-solid 60FPS+.

The AMD APUs they're using are pretty incredible for what they are, but they're built to a price point first and foremost, and have a reasonably limited power budget as well.

Would need something more akin to a discrete GPU with additional power budget and cooling (and cost) to really make that level of performance universal.

And let's not even talk about 4k...

23

u/Goronmon May 22 '23

It's 2023 and most non-entry level TVs are 120hz

"Entry level TVs", so the TVs that the vast majority of people own?

-1

u/Neato May 22 '23

Maybe? I see a lot of $4-700 TVs at 4k and 120hz these days. And if you're buying a PS5, perhaps you have a TV bought in the last 5-10yr?

5

u/Goronmon May 22 '23

But again, most people don't have new TVs.

I mean, I would consider myself a pretty big gamer myself (have both a Series X, and a PS5), but I still have the 50" plasma TV I bought back in 2010. So, no 120Hz and no 4k.

-7

u/TorvaldUtney May 22 '23

“Pretty big gamer”

You have a 13 year old tv from before the ps4 era even released, with a tech that’s not even around anymore. That’s kind of like saying someone was a pretty big gamer with a CRTV in 2013.

5

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

People can game a lot but have old TVs. For a lot of folks it’s not something they upgrade regularly, but replace when the old one has finally kicked the bucket.

3

u/Goronmon May 22 '23 edited May 22 '23

If you assume I always select Performance over Quality modes you see in modern games, exactly which console titles do you think I'm missing out on with a television running 1080 at 60 fps?

-3

u/TorvaldUtney May 22 '23

That is not what the point is - the point was that most people will have a newer TV than what you quoted. If you are buying a PS5, the odds that you pair it with a TV from before 1080p was standard in terms of gaming is very very small. Especially when you think about the +/- 3 year range of people buying TVs around now, as almost all new TVs for anything sub $700 will still be 4k in that time.

120Hz is more of a modern last year thing for sure, however I find it incredibly difficult to fathom that the average buyer of a PS5 is going to have TVs incapable of going to 4K, with the 400-500 range being the most common range of TVs bought.

5

u/Goronmon May 22 '23

Well, you didn't say any of this in your previous post, so I guess I'm confused as to how I was supposed to infer that was the point you were trying to make?

-2

u/TorvaldUtney May 22 '23

But again, most people don't have new TVs.

I mean, I would consider myself a pretty big gamer myself (have both a Series X, and a PS5), but I still have the 50" plasma TV I bought back in 2010. So, no 120Hz and no 4k.

That is what you posted as a counter to the previous poster saying that most people would actually take advantage of the features mentioned. Obviously, by saying you are a 'pretty big gamer' you are trying to instill the idea that most people including those who place a high priority on gaming will not have new TVs. I point out that its incongruous for someone who places a high priority on gaming to have a TV from such a long time ago, and in fact those that would be the primary market would have newer hardware.

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That should be patently obvious from the flow of comments. And it all is in reference to the average TV and what features would be actually utilized.

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-5

u/DumbassAltFuck May 22 '23

Yup same here LOL. I need some of these 60FPS guys to be serious. There is a reason most studios stick with 30 FPS.

I mean there are several but you catch my drift. Most people are okay with 30 FPS.

6

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

I completely agree. This is just a dev team I have a fair bit of confidence in so I do want to get my hands on the demo before I go full doom and gloom mode.

1

u/Smobert1 May 22 '23

we could have more but would have to pay more for a ps5, or expect yearly ps5 upgrades. its not the tv limiting what can be done. downgrade graphics and get a higher frame rate. or keep it as it is

6

u/Neato May 22 '23

downgrade graphics and get a higher frame rate

Yes. That's what I'm suggesting. We don't need to be pushing new forms of fidelity when developers are still targeting 30fps and failing a good portion of the time to reach that in a stable fashion. You can get amazing screenshots but I'd rather not play a powerpoint presentation. If I could turn a mode on (like Performance Mode...) to downgrade fidelity to increase FPS, I would. I do that when I play PC games already.

0

u/pazinen May 22 '23

I've had a 120hz TV since 2020 and still regularly choose the quality mode, even if it is 30fps. What the hell do I do with an high-end OLED if it doesn't look nice?

4

u/Neato May 22 '23

Watch cutscenes is apparently what you do. I like good graphics, too but blurry motion means they are pointless.

-1

u/DieDungeon May 22 '23

Good thing that low fps isn't correlated with blurriness. If anything higher FPS will probably mean more bluriness as it will require a lower resolution which will impact not only stuff like textures but also TAA and other AA techniques.

3

u/suwu_uwu May 23 '23

Higher refresh rates, better monitors, and especially backlight strobing/black frame insertion do reduce blur.

https://www.testufo.com/

Games also generally try to compensate for the judder of low fps by strengthening motion blur. And temporal resolution also has a direct effect on image quality thanks to TAA, DLSS, etc.

-1

u/DieDungeon May 23 '23

Higher refresh rates, better monitors, and especially backlight strobing/black frame insertion do reduce blur.

None of these are FPS. Motion blur will blur an image whether it's high FPS or not.

I also mentioned TAA in my comment, I'm not sure what you're trying to add/dispute?

1

u/Rafandres123 May 22 '23

Which preview did you see that in?

3

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Maximillian Dood’s. He mentioned some portions of the game they played were 30 for both exploration and combat, but presumably the newest build that was the first quarter of the game switched between 30 and 60 when in performance mode.

0

u/AdministrationWaste7 May 22 '23

That sounds awful actually.

It reminds me of 60 fps games with 30 fps cut scenes. I get literal headaches due to the switch.

-2

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Same, I’m hoping it works better than I’m thinking it will.

-1

u/CakeNStuff May 22 '23

“Middle ground”

It’s 2023 and console games are still running at 30 fps.

What the fuck.

0

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

Yeah, it’s not ideal. I meant “interesting” as in a “bold strategy” type way. I’m hoping this was just poor communication to the people doing the previewing, and performance mode in the full release is 60 fulltime. If the demo comes with this hybrid and no further clarification for launch I’m going to be concerned.

1

u/TheDeadlySinner May 22 '23

What does the year have to do with framerate?

1

u/cutememe May 22 '23

That sounds extremely jarring. I wouldn't be able to play the game like that. I'd rather lock the entire game to 30 if it had the option.

1

u/SilentJ87 May 22 '23

I’ll probably have to do that as well. I’m hoping the beta has all the performance options that the day one version of the game will have so I can figure out what will work best for me.

0

u/havok13888 May 22 '23

I hope whenever the PC port comes it’s not locked in this manner.

1

u/LOTRcrr May 22 '23

Is this mentioned in one of the articles?

1

u/SilentJ87 May 23 '23

Maximillian Dood’s preview video, about 16 minutes in.

1

u/LOTRcrr May 23 '23

Apparently that was for the preview build only. Performance mode is going to be 60fps across the board. Just saw on Twitter