So I Just Finished Final Fantasy XVI...

I’ve watched quite a few reviews, but none have articulated so clearly and comprehensively the whole of FFXVI as your review has. Kudos on such a masterful video, it was a blast to view

29:45 I felt very similar about most early side quests and filler main quests between the Stage levels. The early side quests and some later quests felt very fetch quest/filler content. In addition the rewards for said quests were negligible. A few crafting resources you could gets tons of cheaply from a vendor or those chests you kick open everywhere. Same with the quests like you mentioned getting your pass back with Goets, or helping Mid build the ship and running around getting all of her parts or running around the hide out talking to everyone. However later in the game the side quests that have multiple parts mainly were much better. Even though many of them had negligible rewards (not all) they seriously added to the world building and appreciation of the world the game takes place in. It also build up the side characters and made you appreciate them more. Luckily there were some good rewards for some of those side quests, mainly the medicine potency and increase in potions were great rewards albeit their connected side quests were felt like filler… there were some better side quests like the Blacksmith Blues side quests chain that rewarded some of the best gear available throughout the game and also had a decent story moments and world building. Many of the late game side quests (especially the ones that are chained together) made me feel a lot closer to the large cast of characters making the ending farewell before Clive and crew set off to Origin feel a lot more potent. I feel as if I hadn’t done those quests that scene and my feelings towards the side characters in general would have been much less impactful. All in all like I said when I started…. I very much agree the downtime between main stage levels could have been executed much better. They weren’t terrible but was often boring and tedious. Regardless they still added to the world and characters a lot and all together made me appreciate the game world more. Lastly, despite the tedious parts, it in no way significantly impacted my appreciation of the game as a whole. The stages were so epic and impressive and always added so much to the story that i was happy to push through the side/filler content looking forward to the next epic battle just around the corner.

I had very similar thoughts to you about the world itself, beautifully realised in scale and feeling, but made small by the fact that it just takes a screen fade to cross the continent. I really think it's a byproduct of having side quests and needing the hideaway as a central hub. When the game is linear and it's guiding you across the world sequentially it feels so much more impactful.

Great video man! pretty much couldn't disagree with a thing you said surrounding the story and character analysis. I utterly fell in love with this game. So crushed when it ended, but also loved how it ended.

Great watch 🙏🏿

Definitely don’t think the players were meant to not know he was ifrit. Right there with you on that one haha

Great video mate, hope this does well for you. Often see your videos with low viewership but your content is top notch.

Great review! ❤️ Found your channels because of your FF7 Remake playthrough. And I have watched all your FF stuff since... I'm so glad, you have found the FF franchise! ❤️

I absolutely adored this game. It had some faults, and I'm not a long term FF fan so my opinion on elements of it such as the changes to combat aren't influenced by what came before, but even still; this was amazing and I adored playing through it.

A note about the whole clive being ifrit thing. I think its important to realize that the prologue section where you play as young Clive is a flash back from a narrator that is completely unreliable. Clive is flashing back to what happened but hes in complete denial to the point where he's convinced himself that it had to be someone else that killed josh. But its just ambiguous enough that I can see people being unsure of exactly what happened. I wasn't at all fooled, but like you said, its a dramatic irony. Where the player is aware of info the characters are not. It makes the infernal eikon / infernal shadow fight that much better. The moment where Clive accepts the truth and the music just starts going, and when utters the words "You are not Ifrit. I am" sends chills down my spine. Its maybe the best thing ive seen in a video game ever. All of that is followed by Cid saying in order achieve redemption you have to accept what you are. Its so good.

Nice video and really awesome thumbnail! I haven't been able to stop thinking about FFXVI since I completed it. Despite its flaws, it is such a powerful game on so many levels, from the Eikon fights to the story. The Clive/Joshua brotherhood story is so powerful and the actors involved really sell it across well. Liked and subbed :)

As someone who has never touched kingdom hearts (I assume that's what you're referencing) when you said that thing about "bahamut going to cast zetaflare like Donald godamn duck" it made me laugh uncontrollably

I absolutely loved this game. Currently halfway through my NG+ playthrough. One of the most Epic games I’ve ever played. Set pieces were amazing.

Soo glad to be done with Final Mediocrity 16.

Stranger of Paradise in my mind did the job system, party members and action combat well because it had Nioh esque combat, you could play as any job you want and each of your party members had 5 jobs you could choose from that you can unlock. There’s no open world towns and cities, there’s no individual shops, but there is dialogue, there are means to purchase and obtain gear outside of killing enemies and opening chests. I know it had all the memes about ‘Chaos’ but I have found it to be a genuinely good game, im on discord every day talking about this game, theorizing about it, it’s links to the various dissidia games and the other games in the series. The lore in the form of the fool’s missives and lufenian logs are so fascinating. A return to the world of Final Fantasy 1. It’s genuinely amazing, and it’s worth a play.

54:34 that part of that track is really good and I could’ve seen it being used in a lot of scenes. But really this game was really good imo. Every big story moment, eikon battle, and piece of music felt so good. Couldn’t have concluded any better than you did at the end. Only thing I would change is have the victory fanfare after defeating ultima, I was so surprised when it didn’t play lol. Honestly what a spectacle to play through and the voice acting was amazing. Byron was the best and the whole thing was fun and the story was touching, making me feel for the characters, and I think a that’s a good chunk of what matters when looking at an FF game. If they make rebirth have an ending that makes me cry like this one, that will be my final fantasy 😂 you know what I’m talking about

Just to let you know, that the modern final fantasy with an overworld, a lore book, job system, party member, etc. It exists! It’s called Bravely default on the 3ds. With was made by square enix for the fan of the older ff while main series keep evolving.

The demo showed us how party members could work in the game! When you play as Joshua he has unique combat abilities similar to a White Mage. They could have easily done this with other characters - Jill as a Black Mage, Clive as a Warrior, Dion as a Dragoon, etc. Either have the ability to switch freely between members like FF7R or have story specific moments where you play as others, like as in the demo. For example, playing as Jill when she goes back to the island and confronts her abusers would make it more POV and make her story hit harder.

The biggest thing that confused me about the game was the Ifrit mystery. One of the trailers ends with Clive shouting “come to me, Ifrit,” as he’s consumed by flames. Then they showed gameplay as Ifrit, also in the trailers. But then all of a sudden it’s meant to be a big reveal? I guess it’s still a surprise if you didn’t watch those trailers, but surely you wouldn’t just reveal a plot twist in a trailer?

I know this isn't related to the video,but genuinely what do you think about FFXV? kinda interested in playing it.