Final Fantasy XVI

[Fahrenheit]

I know right?

Having a big variety of team members made it overall a lot of fun for sure. Not only that in certain games there would be times you would have to divert/divide your party properly. That was always pretty fun too.

Probably why FF6 was my favorite. That has to be the FF with largest number of player characters. Probably also why I really enjoyed the Suikoden games.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Personally I love both and the romance. Everything in between that makes it a great franchise.

I can think of few video game romances that were convincing, satisfying. They hardly ever focus on the actual relationship between the two characters. The only romance games I liked was in the Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel games, because the game actually dwelled on the relationships and showed how they were important to the characters. Behind every good man is a good woman supporting them, and without her he wouldn't be able to go on without breaking or becoming morally bankrupt.

There might be a little bit of romance in FFXVI; in the trailer you can see a grey haired girl hanging out with Joshua, and she has what appears to be a snow flake necklace, so she might grow up to become Shiva seen in other parts of the trailer, perhaps trying to avenge Joshua? (So far the consensus is that Joshua dies to Ifrit, but I'm not so sure. We see Phoenix present in other scenes besides the one in which he presumably dies to Ifrit; particularly @2:25 when it's flying near the massive tower from the concept art, possibly fighting Ifrit again in another scene? Ifrit appears to be clinging to that tower @3:07 and launching an attack at Phoenix, so it could be that Joshua survived the initial fight at his home castle and fights Ifrit again at a later date at the huge tower. If Joshua survived, then perhaps he might reunite with his grey haired childhood friend?).

Anyway, I'm not holding out for romance in FFXVI. Not every game needs one, and FFXVI's story seems to be a rather somber story about a man who lost everything and just wants to avenge the people he lost.

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I wish Square Enix wouldn't continue this trend of dis-including neat female characters on your team.

Have they? Every character heavy FF has had significant involvement of a female character. VI had Tera and Celes, VII had Tifa and Aerith, VIII had Rinoa, IX had Garnet, X had Yuna, XI had Prishe, and Iroha (Prishe pretty much becomes the main character of XI starting with CoP, and Iroha stole the show of RoV), XII had Ashe (who shared the spotlight of main character with Basch and Balthier), the XIII trilogy was centered around Lightning, and FFXIV has Alisae, Y'shtola, Lyse, Nanamo, Yugiri, and Ryne as major female characters in the story. The only FF game without a playable female character was FFXV, and Luna and Aranea were planned to have more involvement, but were scrapped due to two year hard deadline Tabata was given to salvage the project.

I was talking about this with another and they advised me, "Well maybe it's to appeal to women more because throwing lots of attractive guys on a team." I was like would you play an all female game?(to be fair they did this with FF X-2, which I played but still..and I mostly wanted to see Tidus again anyways. 10 ended pretty rough. I do know of some guys that played it too but still..) "Well I would feel awkward and no I didn't play FF X-2" Ok, you can understand where I am coming from.

The JRPG audience isn't opposed to female casts. The success of the Atelier series is proof of that; the playable casts are almost entirely female focused and there hasn't been a male protagonist since Escha & Logy... and he was a co-protagonist with Escha anyway.

The problem with FFX-2 wasn't that the cast was all female. The problem was how Square presented the game. When you look at X-2's box art, or if you watched the advertisements, or so the CGI trailer, you got the impression that it was idol bait, which comes off as cringeworthy to a Western audience. It doesn't help that even if you try to look past that, the first 30 minutes of the game with the idol dance cinematic doesn't help. Even though that most of X-2 isn't actually like that, first impressions matter and Square killed X-2 in the West.

[Icelin]

There might be a little bit of romance in FFXVI; in the trailer you can see a grey haired girl hanging out with Joshua, and she has what appears to be a snow flake necklace, so she might grow up to become Shiva seen in other parts of the trailer,

I don't mind the romance. I don't think it is a complete necessity in the game. To be fair though no one could really dispute that a majority of this series is heavily romanticized. There has always managed to be at least one pairing.

Still this girl didn't look like she was apart of the party. That was just my impression. Main concern actual female characters on your team.

I'm not really down with the whole route of Shiva being an Elf or human again. (As they have done it before) Maybe if they are going to make multiple characters represent Espers/Aeons/Summons etc.That might be kinda neat and different (instead of cherry picking)... Imagine a character representing Bahamut..

Anyway, I'm not holding out for romance in FFXVI. Not every game needs one, and FFXVI's story seems to be a rather somber story about a man who lost everything and just wants to avenge the people he lost.

You know the only times I can recall and someone can correct me that there hasn't been a romance and it not be a part of the main plot. (As there was side character romance) Is when the main hero is female.

One of my favorite female characters is Terra from this series. Yes she idolized and wanted to know about love but she found it in raising children. Love of her family. Even with guys in your party being flirtatious. Lighting I disliked quite a lot so I wouldn't be able to go into what made her tick. I know she had love of her family too with her sister. She was like this obnoxious female version of Cloud to me and overall the mechanized (I don't mind mech that much but still...turning into automobiles and bikes it's just wrong) Aeons/summons/Espers really rubbed me the wrong way.

Would I be completely heartbroken if it had no romance? I'll be honest.. I would be a little bit disappointed. That's fine tho. Again, my main concern is not having female characters in my party and as the one person mentioned earlier just more variety in general. I wouldn't mind another moogle on my team again.

[Fahrenheit]

I’m not opposed to romance in video games at all, but the games that have pulled it off without it being a giant cringe fest are few and far between with JRPGs far and away being the worst offenders.

[Chickat]

I don't think ff is for me anymore. Any modern games similar to ff9?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Any modern games similar to ff9?

The Trails series and the Atelier games. They are fully turn based. Well, were. Atelier Ryza is ATB, and the next Trails game is apparently going to be real time too. But you still have 9 turn based Trails games and dozens of turn based Atelier games to pick from.

For Trails, you can either start at Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, or Trails of Cold Steel 1. Whichever appeals to you the most. If you play Trails in the Sky, I would recommend playing on easy mode; the other difficulties were added in later by the localizers and the game wasn't designed around them. Same for the sequels Second Chapter and 3rd. I caution you not to go to the Trails wiki or looking up Trails let's plays on Youtube. Spoilers in the comments section of the music posted to Youtube, spoilers everywhere.

For Atelier, you can start at any game. I would recommend playing either the Arland or the Dusk trilogies, but seriously just pick whichever game appeals to you the most.

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If you have a 3DS, there are the Bravely Default games. If you are fine with Bravely Default's gameplay, then I would also recommend that you check out Granblue Fantasy. Don't let the word "gacha" scare you away; it's tied with Warframe as the most friendly F2P game I've ever played. They throw dozens and dozens and dozens of characters at you for free, and you don't need to pay or anything to play through the story. The first story arc is good but the game really begins to pick up in the second story arc when they got a new writer.

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Lastly, you can check out some older games. Sakura Wars V is a great game. The English dub is okay. Sakura Wars 1 had a fan translation patch release earlier this year. There is also Tactics Ogre, if you play that I would recommend installing the One Vision mod for the PS Vita remake. Valkyria Chronicles 1 is good.

[Sentynel]

I mean, if the game has been in works since... 2015? And comes out after 6-7 years, that's good news? It is a significant development time, much less likely to be rushed like the annual CoD/EA sports game copies.

CoD / EA annual releases aren't 1 year developments either. CoD releases rotate between 3 separate studios (Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer and Treyarch).

[Chickat]

The Trails series and the Atelier games. They are fully turn based. Well, were. Atelier Ryza is ATB, and the next Trails game is apparently going to be real time too. But you still have 9 turn based Trails games and dozens of turn based Atelier games to pick from.

For Trails, you can either start at Trails in the Sky: First Chapter, or Trails of Cold Steel 1. Whichever appeals to you the most. If you play Trails in the Sky, I would recommend playing on easy mode; the other difficulties were added in later by the localizers and the game wasn't designed around them. Same for the sequels Second Chapter and 3rd. I caution you not to go to the Trails wiki or looking up Trails let's plays on Youtube. Spoilers in the comments section of the music posted to Youtube, spoilers everywhere.

For Atelier, you can start at any game. I would recommend playing either the Arland or the Dusk trilogies, but seriously just pick whichever game appeals to you the most.

- - - Updated - - -

If you have a 3DS, there are the Bravely Default games. If you are fine with Bravely Default's gameplay, then I would also recommend that you check out Granblue Fantasy. Don't let the word "gacha" scare you away; it's tied with Warframe as the most friendly F2P game I've ever played. They throw dozens and dozens and dozens of characters at you for free, and you don't need to pay or anything to play through the story. The first story arc is good but the game really begins to pick up in the second story arc when they got a new writer.

- - - Updated - - -

Lastly, you can check out some older games. Sakura Wars V is a great game. The English dub is okay. Sakura Wars 1 had a fan translation patch release earlier this year. There is also Tactics Ogre, if you play that I would recommend installing the One Vision mod for the PS Vita remake. Valkyria Chronicles 1 is good.

Ill look into those, thank you!

[Graeham]

I’m not opposed to romance in video games at all, but the games that have pulled it off without it being a giant cringe fest are few and far between with JRPGs far and away being the worst offenders.

Yeah, the 'romance' in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ruined the game for me. It felt creepy, awkward and forced. Worse yet was the camera zooming in on a character's breasts during scenes that were meant to be taken as sad and serious events.

[dope_danny]

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status...86354880806912

Hiring states they have completed basic development and scenario production already. I would not be surprised if this is squares big christmas release next year and really would be surprised if 7 part 2 is out before this.

[Xilurm]

I didn't think the trailer looked that bad. I like the timeline, the feel, etc. What I am worried about is when I seen glimpses of what looks to be the party. I didn't see any females on the team. It makes me extremely disappointed. As it is tradition for there to be a female in your team even from the very first game in this franchise.

Final Fantasy was one of those very few games you actually had some neat female fictional characters let alone playable. FF15 wasn't that bad. (Somethings I didn't mind out of it.) I just wish they didn't make LunaFreya (Nice bizarre mix up name btw --; ) not apart of your party. I remember seeing clips for FF 13 versus btw. Which most definitely she looked playable at that time. Instead they re hauled and went this boy band Kpop route for 15.

I wish Square Enix wouldn't continue this trend of dis-including neat female characters on your team. I was talking about this with another and they advised me, "Well maybe it's to appeal to women more because throwing lots of attractive guys on a team." I was like would you play an all female game?(to be fair they did this with FF X-2, which I played but still..and I mostly wanted to see Tidus again anyways. 10 ended pretty rough. I do know of some guys that played it too but still..) "Well I would feel awkward and no I didn't play FF X-2" Ok, you can understand where I am coming from.

Personally I love both and the romance. Everything in between that makes it a great franchise.

From what it looks from the trailer, it doesn't even look like there's any party members tbh. We still have a lot to see.

As for it being a trend, it really isn't? I mean, I don't get how 1 game suddenly makes a trend. It was only 15 and they just went with a change. 14 doesn't count cause it's an MMO even tho it has both good male and female side characters. 13, 13-2, LR were all female centric and 13 was the main FF single player game before 15. Would you count 7 Remake? Maybe not. 12 had female protagonists, some people even say Ashe might aswell be the protagonist. 11 was an mmo again and 10 had Yuna, Riku and Lulu. Not to mention all the side games.

Reminds me of this article I read

https://www.fanbyte.com/trending/the...ious-of-ffxvi/

This entire article is a farce tbh. Complaining about things like Lyse being too white to serve as the "savior" of Ala Mhigo. (in ff14)

So yeah, I don't know where this delusion is coming from. Female characters have always been at the forefront of FF games along with male ones. With the exception of FF15. And I'm pretty sure that was on purpose and not because they accidentally forgot to put female chars in the main party.

[Icelin]

As for it being a trend, it really isn't? I mean, I don't get how 1 game suddenly makes a trend. It was only 15 and they just went with a change. .

Yes 15 was the last installment in the franchise. I said I hope they don't make this a trend. I'm not really sure where you are going with the rest of your post. As you stated yourself that there is lots of female characters in that particular universe and always have been.

The article about Lunafreya being a weak character was something I did agree with in the article btw. I feel she is probably the worst written female character in that franchise. Which I stated in my previous post to begin with. From what I seen Stella from FF13versus would've been much better.

[Xilurm]

Yes 15 was the last installment in the franchise. I said I hope they don't make this a trend. I'm not really sure where you are going with the rest of your post. As you stated yourself that there is lots of female characters in that particular universe and always have been.

The article about Lunafreya being a weak character was something I did agree with in the article btw. I feel she is probably the worst written female character in that franchise. Which I stated in my previous post to begin with. From what I seen Stella from FF13versus would've been much better.

TBH you did write "continue this trend" not "make this a trend" so I hope you understand why I would write that.

[Ripster42]

I have tried, believe me, a lot of the final fantasy games come off as very not for me.

It's not for everyone, don't fret.

If you want an interesting take on a JRPG empire, I'd strongly encourage that you check out the Trails of Cold Steel games, though I understand that the other "anime" elements might be a turn off. Play them in order: 1 > 2 > 3 > 4.

Only played the first one so far, but, can confirm, was good.

FF9 used the term 'Eidolon'.

I think they're conflating/confusing eiko (the person who summoned them) with the name of the summons.

Returning to 16: Elated that they seem to have forgone the modern setting. Looks interesting. I'm finally coming to grips after 12 13 and 15 that there will be no more turn based games. Just hope I'll be able to stomach the characters this round. 13 & 15 were train wrecks in that regard.

[Volatilis]

Yeah the character writing has certainly left little to be impressed about in recent entries.

They also cant seem to get exploration and item discovery right. The worlds never feel full of mystery or interesting locations.

Combine that with constant changes to combat I find it harder and harder to be excited about one of my favourite series.

[Advent]

Yeah the character writing has certainly left little to be impressed about in recent entries.

They also cant seem to get exploration and item discovery right. The worlds never feel full of mystery or interesting locations.

Combine that with constant changes to combat I find it harder and harder to be excited about one of my favourite series.

I've actually noticed this trend with a lot of games coming out of Asian countries. If I had to guess, I think it has to do with a difference in culture. Western culture, I believe, is rooted in discovery and seeking out the unknown. I don't think that's the case for the East, and it definitely shows in many of their games.

[Shakzor]

I've actually noticed this trend with a lot of games coming out of Asian countries. If I had to guess, I think it has to do with a difference in culture. Western culture, I believe, is rooted in discovery and seeking out the unknown. I don't think that's the case for the East, and it definitely shows in many of their games.

Depends on how you define exploration. FOr example in the Yakuza games, you get a TON of interesting little side stories if you just go "hm? What's that seemingly off character doing there?" and then you get a quest where you teach pretend-rockabillys to be more badass or whatnot. Or in FF8, if i remember correctly, most of the strongest weapons were found somewhere in the wild or via magazines that are hidden wherever, sometimes also in the story segments in plain sight, but might be overlooked. And Breath of the Wild (or Genshin Impact) is all about exploration.
Japanese devs just used to make more linear games for a longer time than western devs did

[Volatilis]

I've actually noticed this trend with a lot of games coming out of Asian countries. If I had to guess, I think it has to do with a difference in culture. Western culture, I believe, is rooted in discovery and seeking out the unknown. I don't think that's the case for the East, and it definitely shows in many of their games.

I dunno if its a culture thing per say. I was more referring to just square enix back when they were squaresoft and did final fantasy 7,8,9 my personal favourites in the series. Those games felt packed with secrets and extra content you could easily miss. I've found their never been able to repeat that kind of feel again because everything spent is on the high fidelity character models and CGI/music trying to always chase that next gen look and will be in the base game/story so nothing is missed.

They also make their games more like action movies where we get these really insane set pieces like the behemoth/leviathan fight in FF15 or the boss fights in FF7 remake and you can tell those must also soak up the budget.

[desertlizard]

when i first saw the trailer i was naaaaw that kind of excited and i really wanted to to be excited as much as when i played ff7 for the ps1, but i guess im saving rpg games for the backlog in my library of unfinished games damn, i started playing ffx a looooong ago and couldn't finish it cuz well you know life has the strangest paths for every single one of us, and maybe i should get back to it...

[Val the Moofia Boss]

when i first saw the trailer i was naaaaw that kind of excited and i really wanted to to be excited as much as when i played ff7 for the ps1, but i guess im saving rpg games for the backlog in my library of unfinished games damn, i started playing ffx a looooong ago and couldn't finish it cuz well you know life has the strangest paths for every single one of us, and maybe i should get back to it...

Well why did you drop FFX? Did you not like the characters? The pacing of the story? The setting or aesthetics? Gameplay? There is probably a game out there that address what you found lacking.