Final Fantasy 16 Hands-On Preview - IGN

IGN: "Should the story, exploration, and characters live up to what I’ve seen of the combat so far, then Final Fantasy 16 will be a JRPG worth being excited about. "

[RaidenBlack]

" Too many interesting games this year "
...
... too little free time
😔

[Flawlessmic]

I know right!! I have like 5 games tied as my most wanted this yr.

Ff16
Spiderman 2
Starfield
Forza
Botw

And that's just the big ones, 2023 is gonna be a great yr for gamers, especially ones who own all consoles.

[VivaLaManual]

I would be shocked if SM 2 actually comes out this year.

[paulust2002]

Why the majority thumbs down? what the fuck do you people want!?

[Flawlessmic]

@paulust

Who knows bro, this place is funny like sometimes haha

[Shadowsteal]

@VivaLaManual

Just because some studios take closer to 10 years to launch a title doesn't mean you need to paint Insomniac Games with the same brush.

[2018] Spider-man + 3 DLC
[2019] Storm land
[2020] Spider-man Remastered + Spider-man: Miles Morales
[2021] Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
[2023] Spider-man 2

[jznrpg]

Nothing personal @VivaLaManual. I believe you were downvoted because Insomniac is a well oiled machine with 2 development teams and 23’ seems almost guaranteed in most people’s eyes.

[ThePacemaker]

After being blown away by Gran Turismo 7 in VR. I can’t imagine myself playing any other racing game on ‘flat screen”.

[DarXyde]

You got down voted because BotW isn't releasing this year.

...TotK on the other hand...😁

[tay8701]

@viva it has been confirmed multiple times by Insomiac that it will release in 2023. It's not getting pushed back. It will be the biggest game of the holiday season easily. As impressive as ragnarok sales numbers were this past yr, spiderman 2 is going to eclipse it.

[MADGameR]

RESIDENT EVIL 4 Remake
Final Fantasy XVI
Spider-Man 2

Those 3 are the ONLY relevant games this year. Don't care about a racing game and a 720p 20FPS kid game.

[S2Killinit]

@RidenBlack
I know this is off topic, but, Personally, this is exactly why services like gamepass are not very smart way to game. You get limited to what is available on the service, and you end up paying the same or even more while playing less of what you want and more of what is available “for free”.

[Obscure_Observer]

@S2Killinit

3 games like Redfall, Forza and Starfield will be available “for free” on Gamepass as you said yourself.

You´ll be paying $140 for only 2 games. FFXVI and Spiderman 2.

We´re happy with Gamepass offerings. You´re happy with Playstation offerings. You see? Everybody is happy. :)

[S2Killinit]

No everybody not happy. First off, you dont know when said games are releasing. You also dont know that everybody would want to pay for those two games. If a person pays for a year of gamepass, he will be limited to the games available at any particular time on the the service (whether he is playing or not) now if he wishes to also play ANYTHING outside of said service per year, he will begin to run the risk of paying MORE for the SAME amount of gaming. Therein lies the problem with gamepass. By paying for it, you are financially limiting yourself to its offerings.

(This of course does not apply to the small minority of people that enjoy a large number of games per year)

[closed_account]

I hear ya. I've finally conceded to the fact that I'll never be able to play all of the games that I want to play. Most of my free time in my 20's and a lot of my 30's went to gaming. I just... can't keep up anymore in my 40's. I've been saying that I'd go back to Final Fantasy XV to give it another chance... since 2016. Still haven't done it yet. XD

[Flawlessmic]

Yea I'm in my early 30s now and finding time is getting harder, forget xv I mean I liked it but it still ranks pretty low for me as far as FF games go.

FF16 looks like a true return to form for the series, like I'm giddy with excitement, love when a game gets me this excited.

Love the confidence creative business unit have in showing so much and letting so many outlets get there hands on it.

[Flawlessmic]

Feed it, right into my veins!!

So psyched for this. I always had faith creative business unit would kill it after there work on 14.

If ff is going action rpg then who better than the dmc combat director to take them there!

[MrNinosan]

And with that, you more specifically meant Creative Business Unit III (Division 5) right?
Because the other 3 Creative Business Unit didn't work on XIV.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Seems significantly better than FF15. I’ll check this out. On my PS5.

[thesoftware730]

haha, It's the only place to check it out.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Money hatting will do that

[Ninver]

@343_Guilty_Spark

No, supporting developers by buying their games will do that.

[Dezireal]

Yoshi-P already said that a release after the exclusivity period is extremely unlikely and would take alot longer to port to pc. So most likely sounds like it could be a year at best from the ps5 release.

[Hereandthere]

Cant wait!

[Elda]

Oh yesss!

[repsahj]

Patiently waiting for this game!

[thesoftware730]

I have not been this excited about a FF game since 10!

8 was my favorite though, Followed by U.S. FF2 on SNES. I love turn-based combat FF games the most. This game looks so F'ing good! the graphics are phenomenal and the gameplay looks right there with it. I am currently playing MHR on GP and got a tiny bit of similar vibes with the Summons fighting, and seeing him fight that one summon. This game seems on a whole other level...FF seems to be back to RPG glory!!!!

[ziggyzinfirion]

Glad to see someone who loved FF8, that was my favorite as well. I am excited as you are buddy!

[CrimsonWing69]

You guys ain’t alone with the FF8 love.

[onisama]

i will play this on my xbox ....oh wait this is one of those great 3rd party exclusives, but at least its "for the player"

[Aloymetal]

Just be patient, eventually you'll be able to play this on your xbox and join the 200 xbox gamers that will buy this game or maybe by that time it'll ''free'' on gamepass.

[thesoftware730]

That would be dope if MS paid for it to go to GP after they clean up PS5 sales....we all win!

[onisama]

Yeah same like the remake right.... Oh that didn't come out too
But its fine im sure sony is doing this for our own good

[thesoftware730]

Just buy a PS5, my man!

I play my SX all the time, but if you can afford both, you win, it's all video games and you will enjoy a good game no matter what box is running it.

I recommend a Switch as well because BotW 2 will be epic.

[shinoff2183]

Software730

Agreed. I'll just add get a pro controller for the switch as was recommended to me. The joycons are garbage.

[shinoff2183]

You'll just have to get a ps5. I gotta get an Xbox for starfield, fallout stalker etc.

Let's not act like ms doesn't have any 3rd party exclusives. You sound like a bitter little child

[jznrpg]

Stalker 2 is a 6 month timed exclusive

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Man it's so weird that we've had third party exclusives for decades, which Microsoft lived off of during the 360 era, but now all of a sudden because the poor little trillion dollar corporation created this narrative and is publicly crying about it, it's a problem, and PlayStation is such a big bully. For years they spent pocket change in a half assed attempt to build out their own studios, none of you complained. Now they want the largest publisher in the industry because they couldn't be bothered. But it's a great thing for gamers, they say, right? This whole thing is hilarious.

[Nacho_Z]

It's about time they got FF back on track I haven't liked one since 10. 16 looks to be shaping up really well I'm a fan of the direction they've gone with. Bit of a mash up of The Witcher, God of War and Game of Thrones, filtered through that FF goodness.

[thesoftware730]

I 100% agree with your comment...exactly the way I feel.

I did enjoy 13s combat once it opened up, but the story was a stupid unfollowable mess.

[phoenixwing]

Pretty sure I'm going to love this game. However the addition of rings to make the game easier is a shrewd move by square enix. I am very certain reviewers are going to make use of them to skip over the gameplay sections with ease but act like they didn't. It'll give them better review scores.

[shinoff2183]

From what I read yesterday it's an easy mode thing. Some bs about trying to welcome us still salty fans that want turn based. It doesn't sound seem like a good answer.

https://www.truetrophies.co...

[phoenixwing]

I get what it's officially for I'm just saying how reviewers who stink at games will love or reviewers who don't want to spend a lot of time playing.

[jznrpg]

I will skip the rings thing .

[andy85]

The world and creatures look fantastic but I can't help but be underwhelmed at the character models? Especially for a PS5 exclusive. FFXVs seem more detailed. Obviously that's not really that important if the game is actually good though.

[SeTTriP]

Sf6 and tekken 8 will dominate my year mixed with botw.beat ds remake and hogwarts leagacy is not just good but great.cant believe this is portkey first game, they have some amazingly talented people.

[Chevalier]

I'm still on the fence for both SF6 and Tekken 8 although the more I see the more likely I am to cave. But the multiple season passes I know that will come make me think twice though.

[MrNinosan]

Still playing BotW after all those years?
Better try TotK ;)

[gurp]

already preorder
I agree too many games, and not enough time

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Probably will come to PC sometime in 2024, maybe towards the end, hopefully using direct storage. FF16 is using that piece of shit UE4 which just stutters all the time on PC. The game will look better but it would not be worth it with all the stutter, which I'm sure there will be.

[CrimsonWing69]

I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate.

According to this article:

https://twistedvoxel.com/pr...

“According to the tech presentation (thanks Reddit user Chroma_9) conducted by the Final Fantasy XVI development team 4 years ago, preliminary testing for the project was conducted using Unreal Engine 4 and the real-time visualization software Marmoset Toolbag during its initial stages. However, it was found that the engine was unable to deliver the finer details that the studio had envisioned. Therefore, the development team decided to use the Final Fantasy XIV engine, and further develop it to allow rendering in a PBR environment. A full-time programmer was assigned the task of handling environments and shader work.”

“Based on the translated highlights from the presentation, the goal of the enhanced FFXIV engine is to be able to mass produce high quality assets “as efficiently and as smoothly as possible, with as little work as possible. It takes about a week of development to model a costume to completion for each character model. The presentation also outlines the software used by the development team for cloth and other materials. According to the presentation, the character models in FFXVI have roughly 100,000 polygons each.

The Square Enix staff member who delivered the presentation goes by the name of Mr. Nanjo, and he joined Naoki Yoshida’s development unit back in 2017. Based on these findings, it can be inferred that he has a key role in the development of Final Fantasy XVI’s engine.

The enhanced FFXIV engine made it easier to develop lower poly models for each region of the game by utilizing a team-wide library that can be sorted by character races and regions. The development team’s goals were to provide a library of textures that were easy to improve and revise, and to utilize the latest tools and techniques in order to improve efficiency and to account for the skill gap across different artists.”

Unless I’m reading that wrong it looks like they started with testing UE4, but then developed a different engine?

[Hamzilla77]

So stoked for this!!!

[Nerdmaster]

Since Bayonetta 3 was a little underwhelming, maybe FF16 will scratch my hack'n slash itch.
For let's face it, FF16 is not Final Fantasy anymore. But it does feel like a fun Devil May Fantasy.

[LightofDarkness]

He speaks very candidly about how he doesn't like that Final Fantasy is seen in this way, that people seem to be holding them to a very specific checklist of things that they believe represent FF and that these expectations limit them as developers. They want people to think of FF as an RPG, in any form, and end the stigma of JRPG, which they felt was a derogatory and limiting term.

[Nerdmaster]

So they should release it as a new IP, or as a spin-off. It's like turning Resident Evil into a... farming sim. I love farming sims, but when I buy a new Resident Evil, I have expectations on some of the core things of the franchise. It's the "burden" of releasing games in a series, especially if it's a mainline game.

[jznrpg]

I watched like 5 seconds of the video midway through on accident and I am not watching anymore . Big ass bosses is what I saw and that’s enough for me until this summer .

[lio_convoy]

I lol'd when I read the one guy saying it'll hit PC in December where it'll reach more gamers. That's code for when a pirated version becomes available so he can download an illegal copy to play for free. Because that's all PC gamers do is play pirated games. Everyone knows that. At least PS5 owners are legitimate gamers who support the industry.

[repsahj]

Damn! Can't wait to play this game! I hope I will not be disappointed as FF15 did.

[antikbaka]

It battles and UI reminds too much of FF15 and Forspoken

it's better to way reviews after release, reviews from players not journos

[Vithar]

Looks frekin amazing, cannot wait!

[Dwarrior]

Doesn't even resemble FF. Just some "modern jrpg".

The disconnect between SE and the original fans of this franchise has turned into a vast gulf.