Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2023-08-19 09:03 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2023-08-19 09:03 am
Entry tags:
Since I'm Still Breathing, I Might As Well Make Myself Useful.
More adventures in Final Fantasy XVI! I've just met Isabelle, crossed the checkpoint and reached the Veil.
I thought dominants might be unaffected by the 'using your magic slowly turns you to stone' thing, but then we saw Cid's arm. Uh-oh. I now feel very bad every time I make Clive use magic in battle.
Oh, wow, I love this flashback to the Phoenix-Ifrit fight where guilt-ridden Clive is talking to his younger self. Not exclusively because it means I can envision Clive making out with himself, but it doesn't hurt.
Fighting Ifrit in the flashback to symbolically come to terms with things is a rad concept, too!
And now I'm fighting yet another Clive, raising the possibility of Clive threesomes. This is great.
That was an excellent sequence - easily my favourite part of the game so far - and I hope 'press L3 and R3 to accept the truth' reaches memetic status on the level of 'press F to pay respects'.
Jill says she's done unforgivable things, and I hope the game lets us learn more about that. I'm a little frustrated by how bland I'm finding Jill so far, so I perk up at any sign there's something more to her.
'Ah, if it isn't Cid's young... protégé,' Quinten says to me. I don't think I'm imagining the pointed pause.
Aww, it's cute to see Clive laughing when talking to Gav! He's usually so serious; it's nice to see another side of him.
Also cute: Cid winking at Clive and Jill and saying, 'You two behave, now.' I'm not yet particularly into Clive/Jill but would be one million percent behind a Clive/Jill/Cid threesome.
Every Final Fantasy has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it's always interesting to play a new one and discover what those are. From my experience of Final Fantasy XVI so far, I'd say it's strong on worldbuilding - the world is interesting and feels fleshed out - but a little weak on its characters and their interactions, although its excellent portrayal of body language helps. In many ways, it's sort of the opposite of Final Fantasy XV, which had a weak world but absolutely shone in its character interactions.
Interestingly, Final Fantasy XVI is really good at minor NPCs! It feels a bit like they put the same level of thought into every character, regardless of their importance to the narrative, resulting in minor characters that feel unusually fleshed out and major characters that feel a little flat.
Our cat Zuko is slightly obsessed with this game. When he hears me start playing, he'll come running to sit in front of the television and watch Clive move. Sometimes he tries to attack Torgal. Like Torgal, Zuko is grey and white and very fluffy, so maybe he feels his position in the household is threatened.
I thought dominants might be unaffected by the 'using your magic slowly turns you to stone' thing, but then we saw Cid's arm. Uh-oh. I now feel very bad every time I make Clive use magic in battle.
Oh, wow, I love this flashback to the Phoenix-Ifrit fight where guilt-ridden Clive is talking to his younger self. Not exclusively because it means I can envision Clive making out with himself, but it doesn't hurt.
Fighting Ifrit in the flashback to symbolically come to terms with things is a rad concept, too!
And now I'm fighting yet another Clive, raising the possibility of Clive threesomes. This is great.
That was an excellent sequence - easily my favourite part of the game so far - and I hope 'press L3 and R3 to accept the truth' reaches memetic status on the level of 'press F to pay respects'.
Jill says she's done unforgivable things, and I hope the game lets us learn more about that. I'm a little frustrated by how bland I'm finding Jill so far, so I perk up at any sign there's something more to her.
'Ah, if it isn't Cid's young... protégé,' Quinten says to me. I don't think I'm imagining the pointed pause.
Aww, it's cute to see Clive laughing when talking to Gav! He's usually so serious; it's nice to see another side of him.
Also cute: Cid winking at Clive and Jill and saying, 'You two behave, now.' I'm not yet particularly into Clive/Jill but would be one million percent behind a Clive/Jill/Cid threesome.
Every Final Fantasy has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it's always interesting to play a new one and discover what those are. From my experience of Final Fantasy XVI so far, I'd say it's strong on worldbuilding - the world is interesting and feels fleshed out - but a little weak on its characters and their interactions, although its excellent portrayal of body language helps. In many ways, it's sort of the opposite of Final Fantasy XV, which had a weak world but absolutely shone in its character interactions.
Interestingly, Final Fantasy XVI is really good at minor NPCs! It feels a bit like they put the same level of thought into every character, regardless of their importance to the narrative, resulting in minor characters that feel unusually fleshed out and major characters that feel a little flat.
Our cat Zuko is slightly obsessed with this game. When he hears me start playing, he'll come running to sit in front of the television and watch Clive move. Sometimes he tries to attack Torgal. Like Torgal, Zuko is grey and white and very fluffy, so maybe he feels his position in the household is threatened.
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I love the way you think XD <333 Please do hold that thought haha.
The Ifrit scene/fighting self scenes were good, but I recently started playing Final Fantasy IV (and gave up again, right after meeting Paladin) and
in case you haven't played it? Keeping it vague anyway and I think it was early game
to win there, you basically were better off not fighting back at all in order to accept yourself or something. So I kept wondering, okay what is the lesson, when I meet my double should I fight back or not fight back this is confusing information XDIn many ways, it's sort of the opposite of Final Fantasy XV, which had a weak world but absolutely shone in its character interactions.
This is an interesting point!! I'm learning more about what's easier to forgive in a game for me, too. The friendships in FFXV absolutely rocked my world and I could easily forgive a lot, even super awkward gameplay/storytelling (chapter 13, was it? 😂). When that's missing, it's a bit harder for me to maintain my interest. But that's what makes the new hideout interesting, moments like you mention, laughing with Gav, feel like slowly created the kind of story and world I'm more interested in, haha.
Also my cat is terrified of explosions and runs away whenever I start a fight, oops! Too bad. She doesn't like anime either, since a volleyball incident. Only quiet dramatic movies or documentaries for her!
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Ooh, the 'fighting yourself' part of Final Fantasy IV hadn't occurred to me! It's just as well I didn't think of it during the XVI fight, because it might well have confused me about what I was supposed to do.
The friendships in FFXV absolutely rocked my world and I could easily forgive a lot, even super awkward gameplay/storytelling (chapter 13, was it?).
I can also forgive a lot if I like the characters and their interactions! Even though chapter 13 was a bit tedious, I find it notable that you feel very alone without your companions in Final Fantasy XV, whereas I barely notice whether I have company or not in XVI. In XV, your friends always feel so present, both in exploration and in combat!
She doesn't like anime either, since a volleyball incident.
Did a... did a volleyball come out of the screen at her?
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Even though chapter 13 was a bit tedious, I find it notable that you feel very alone without your companions in Final Fantasy XV, whereas I barely notice whether I have company or not in XVI
That is very true!! There's a couple of times I didn't notice Jill wasn't with me for a small part of the story, because I basically never see her (I do see her ice spells in the fights, that's about it.) Definitely a very different feeling when the same happens in XV! (Loving the swagger Prompto icon :D <3)
Did a... did a volleyball come out of the screen at her?
Pretty close, to be honest 🤣 Haikyuu had a scene where you see someone spike the ball from the other side of the net, and it really looked like it was coming at us. She ran off with zero grace, and has been intensively suspicious of the TV whenever it's on, since then 🏐 It's been 3 years.
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I don’t even know these characters, but I want this now.
Aw, that’s cute about Zuko! It’s funny when cats have very specific opinions on video things.
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insider riku
and i have largely gotten that impression re: xvi and its world building! ofc, i think i'm basing my impressions more based on the team's past works (a good portion who i know worked or are working on xiv iirc? which is really really good at its world building and fleshing out side npcs, though i feel some of the main cast could use more of that attention
then again i haven't progressed far enough in xiv to give too much of a concrete opinion on that and it could just be a slow burn of getting to know them)
i hope zuko's reign remains strong (and that he dreams of clive walking around)
Re: insider riku
This is such a good observation! I just picked the Riku icon because it felt right and didn't think too hard about it, but, now that you mention it, my posts about Kingdom Hearts III included the line 'Riku and Riku are having some very romantic interactions here.'
It's interesting to hear that Final Fantasy XIV has a similar habit of producing well-developed side characters and slightly underdeveloped main characters! Although I suppose it can afford to burn slowly in that regard, given that the story must be a billion hours long by this point.
Re: insider riku
and yeah! i figure that's part of why they do it (because they have a lot of room to do so) but teehee when i forget something after a million hours in (i'm sorry square my brain focuses on hot and fish, as nice as it is to know what these npcs do in the cases of divorce court)
Re: insider riku
Clive: Well, I already knew that.
Everyone who cares about Riku and Clive, in the background: NO
Re: insider riku
riku: so you're telling me you didn't feel worth something when you went out in a blaze of glory for your loved ones
axel: well when you put it like that
mickey: axel, out
clive: (taking notes)
mickey: stop that
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-resulting in minor characters that feel unusually fleshed out and major characters that feel a little flat.
Oh, these are really helpful ways to put it! If only they could put the character interactions and worldbuilding/plotting from both games together...
I presently don't have the means/mood to play FFXVI or any other game anyway, but it still feels nice to know that I'm presently not missing out on much (except for the dog, apparently). XD
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Oh, wow, I would play the absolute hell out of a version of Final Fantasy XVI where Noct is the fallen noble protagonist, travelling with his companions. It'd be incredible to have a game about the Chocobros in a more developed world, with a more focused plot and more cutscenes.
Final Fantasy XVI isn't a bad game at all! I'm enjoying it more than I expected to from the trailers, which were very focused on fighting and spectacle and didn't give much indication of world, plot or characters. It's just a shame that its weaker aspects are also the aspects I tend to care about most in Final Fantasy games.
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It's interesting, contrasting this game with XV. I generally find that XV had garbage pacing, but one thing it did have going for it was letting you wander around in an open world for the first half of the game so the main four had plenty of time to endear themselves to you organically. (Which was only slightly undercut by little things like Regis's death or the fall of Insomnia. Don't worry about those trifling details, it's camping and video games time!) XVI, on the other hand, picks you up by the scruff of your neck and carries you through the story - you have little time to spend with anyone but Clive, so the characters need to make a strong impression in just a few seconds. Some do. Most don't.
I stopped playing this game at... a point, idk, and I'm deeply struggling to go back to it. The payoff for [interaction I desperately want to see] is taking so long! I've decided to not play in protest, apparently.
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(dark portal appears in the air)
(two hands emerge from within and grip either side of the portal)
Riona: oh no oh shit oh no
Riona: IT'S BEEN TWENTY YEARS, WHY IS THAT STILL THE FIRST PLACE MY MIND GOES, WILL I NEVER BE FREE
(I show the clip to Ginger, who is similarly Internet-poisoned)
Ginger, wounded: I let you into my room to use my PS5, out of the goodness of my heart, and you show me a goatse monster.
The phrase 'at Typhon's entrance' made me slightly flinch to type.
(NB: it occurs to me that, these days, some people who see this comment may be too young or too late to the Internet to be familiar with goatse. Do not Google goatse. It is a picture of a guy holding his own arsehole open, everyone who was on the Internet around the turn of the millennium stumbled across it at one point or another, and, as established by the fact that Ginger and I will still both think of it at the slightest symbolic provocation twenty years later, it is extremely hard to forget.)
Your thoughts on the differences between XV and XVI are interesting! In the way it constantly drives through the story without any room to breathe, XVI reminds me a bit of X or XIII, but I loved the characters in both of those games. I suppose it makes a big difference that X and XIII focus intently on a consistent party of characters, whereas XVI focuses intently on Clive and Clive alone.
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Yeah, I've seen a lot of people make that comparison. I'm torn on whether I want to play - FFXV brought me into Final Fantasy! Am def intrigued but the character interactions are clearly what matter most to me.
Final Fantasy XVI is really good at minor NPCs! It feels a bit like they put the same level of thought into every character, regardless of their importance to the narrative, resulting in minor characters that feel unusually fleshed out and major characters that feel a little flat.
That's kinda fascinating.
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