Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@Th3solution it was really good mate, a really well told (for the most part) fantasy narrative of just EPIC proportions, production values that compare favourably to the big Sony first party blockbusters, combat that I found really fun and more versatile that some would give it credit… a solid 9 out of 10.

Don’t think it’d make my top 10 games of all time… I’d have to have a good think 🤔, will be a worthy platinum milestone though.

@colonelkilgore Good to hear. I’ll be getting around to it in coming weeks or months. Certainly before end of year.

@Th3solution I think you’ll enjoy it mate, the combat/cool-down system is similar (albeit not quite as good) as the Norse God of War games and I remember you playing and enjoying at least one of those (maybe two, I can’t remember if you played Ragnarok or not).

Will be similarly interested to hear your thoughts on the game in the coming months.

@colonelkilgore Yeah, I’m ashamed that I haven’t played Ragnarok yet. I definitely remember your being totally smitten by it, and if it’s anywhere near the quality of GoW ‘18 then I’ll be really happy with it too. Same for FF16 — if it’s combat is anywhere near GoW then I should love it.

Speaking to GoW, it needs to take lessons from FF16 is having time spent meaningfully and not having a bunch padding that kills pacing. I do feel they have some similarities, and it felt like everything GoW got wrong, FF16 got right. It didn’t feel like 33-50% of the game should have been cut because it serves no purpose other than padding.

@johncalmc Really need to go back, think I’m on Heavensward. One hell of a commitment but definitely reminds you how good it is periodically.

@nessisonett It's so good. Heavensward is my least favourite part but even that is good. I think Stormblood is considered the worst bit but I thought it was great, and once you get to Shadowbringers it's all golden.

I'm keeping it on the backburner now as a game I just do a bit in every now and again. Might try out some other classes etc.

@KilloWertz I thought the ending was great! I can certainly understand your frustration with the ambiguity but I personally didn’t read it as such. The only point I see open to interpretation is whether Joshua survived or not. Ultimately, I don’t believe it really matters. Clive, on the other hand, is surely dead, as Cid before him.

@Jimmer-jammer I don't fault anything you said as obviously your interpretation doesn't have to be like mine, but I never took the final mission as being anything but trying to defeat Ultima and then trying to make the best of the world they would have left and then someday generations down the line it would finally be what was hoped. Obviously they didn't know what was going to happen after defeating Ultima for sure, so things could have ended up better than they thought, but not once did I ever think Clive was going there even remotely thinking to sacrifice himself. Which in turns means that's not what the player would expect either. If I recall correctly, Clive even promised Jill that he would come back. Any reference to him not coming back would have been mostly jokingly, like with Gav.

Obviously it's always possible Clive would have lost, but that was the only scenario I imagined him not coming back to Jill and the rest of the Hideaway that he spent dozens of game hours building deep relationships with. Sure, it would make his death a lot more meaningful, but his death is a major problem for me and plenty of other people online. Again, I'm not saying I'm right and you're wrong, but I can say without a doubt that his sacrifice and death came completely out of left field and could have been handled much differently. If there was any real hint that he was going up there to do that, then ok. Once again, that was not his mission, and I blame it on unfortunate shoddy late game storytelling in an otherwise very well written game. Don't write one thing leading up to the sacrifice and then have him go way further and sacrifice himself.

@KilloWertz Oh yeah, hopefully nothing I’ve written is taken as anything more than my personal interpretation. That’s the beauty of art! 😄 I think the fact that folks can glean something different but equally meaningful to them from the same source is pretty cool.

I’ll likely stew on this for a while longer. I’ve been picking up a lot more in my new game+ play through but these are my thoughts thus far.

@Jimmer-jammer They were concerned obviously since Ultima could have won, but there's a difference between that and Clive ever acknowledging that he would ever possibly sacrifice himself. Unless I'm missing something, that was never the plan. He would talk like he was going to come back as long as he won.

@KilloWertz Yeah, I definitely agree with you that he never went into origin with the explicit intent of sacrificing himself. I believe he made the decision once he realized that he, as the corrupted Logos, could not contain the power of the Eikons. More importantly, he realized that, until magic was completely wiped from the human experience, there would forever be war and suffering.

@Jimmer-jammer But that is my continued problem with the ending. I may be wrong that him surviving would have been a better ending, but there was going to be problems with the world and life even after defeating Ultima and he acknowledged that. He never said they needed a fresh start.

@KilloWertz I do believe we have a situation in which the very thing that pulls everything together for me is the very thing that blows it all apart for you 😂

@Jimmer-jammer Pretty much it seems, and I think we'll just leave it at that. Otherwise we'd just be spinning our wheels.

I did love the game up until the ending, but unfortunately at the same time I did hate the ending enough to have it do real damage to my opinion of the game as a whole. A real shame, as it would have given Spider-Man 2 a real run for it's money, but it is what it is I guess.