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Final Fantasy XVI



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Sephiroth0812

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The fight between the two...summons (?) reminded me a bit of Alexandria v. Bahamut in IX.

That too, forgot to mention it in my initial impressions of the trailer.

Although nothing is confirmed of course it does look like characters can turn into the summons this time around.
Ifrit seems to be the older dark-haired main character while Phoenix is Joshua, the younger blond boy.
 

Rydgea

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I get what you are saying, but don't all Final Fantasy games have some elements of sci-fi mixed with fantasy? Even the ones in medieval setting?

I think even in the earliest ones (I-III, though I can't really speak for II since I haven't completed it), some trace amounts of it can be found. Even if it's not as prevalent as, say, XII. Even III feels more like IX in atmosphere than FFI does. FFI might be the most strict medieval tapestry we've ever had, and if that's true.. we're long overdue.
 

rokudamia2

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There's a theory at the moment that ffxvi is connected to Vagrant Story. What with Joshua from ffxvi resembling Joshua from Vagrant Story. And considering Yoshi P is a matsuno fan and has worked with him before it's worth keeping in mind.
 

Xblade13

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I'm hyped, but everything looks like they repurposed FFXV assets.
Did you think they weren't? I was under the impression the smart thing to do was that when the graphics themselves don't make that huge of a jump.

But I'm hype, mostly because of the return to midieval fantasy. I ordered that and steampunk era Final Fantasy (airships and Magitek) over the super modern trend that started with VII and XV took super far.
 

Reflection

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It....looks a lot like 15! Which is kinda what I expected... :/

Whatever, as long as they keep churning out pretty anime boys, I will buy these games. Maybe even if they didn’t.
 

AdrianXXII

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I will take any non-twink jrpg dudes.
Either my definition of a twink is off or are you talking about someone else than the player character.
It's probably the former, seeing I tend to view most non-bears as on the twink spectrum.

Glad to see they are coming back to the fantasy setting for the mainline games.
Do you mean a medieval setting? All Final Fantasy's have had a fantasy setting.

While i do think it's kind of time to get back to this kind of setting. I tend to struggle to get into medieval settings, especially when presented like it was here.
 

Blackrazor187

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Either my definition of a twink is off or are you talking about someone else than the player character.
It's probably the former, seeing I tend to view most non-bears as on the twink spectrum.


Do you mean a medieval setting? All Final Fantasy's have had a fantasy setting.

While i do think it's kind of time to get back to this kind of setting. I tend to struggle to get into medieval settings, especially when presented like it was here.

Yep thats what i meant with the medevial setting.
 

Recon

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Meh, just not feeling the magic of this one. The engine is amazing, but XVI fails to captivate me. The bro-ship in XV is just too iconic, too captivating, too real...

I don’t mind the medieval setting, but it just seemed flat, a bit too generic for my tastes. Of course, I will wait for future trailers for better judgement.
 

AegisXIII

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Guys.... Is this the Luminous engine?

Edit: Not that I have any problems with that if it is the case, I would love to see a Luminous redemption arc but that is a veryyy tone deaf move from Square. A friend and myself have been joking about the possibility of the new FF being on Luminous but it seemed so ludicrous, now I am severely doubting that, and I really hope if it is Luminous they have a handle on it now. I don't think they can risk another victim to that engine
Project athia is with luminous engine if I am not mistaken.
 

Xblade13

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I get what you are saying, but don't all Final Fantasy games have some elements of sci-fi mixed with fantasy? Even the ones in medieval setting?
I believe FF 2, 3, and 5 were fairly generic fantasy for the most part. 1 was except for the time travel thing if that counts as purely a sci-fi trope. 6, 9, I think 11, and 14 were more steampunk than sci-fi to me, 7, 8, 13 and 15 had that more futuristic nearly modern day aesthetic. 10 and 12 felt the most "sci fi" fantasy to me of all of them.

I guess it depends on the definitions of the genres and where they meet. Final Fantasy has always danced around that concept.

For me, 16 has the same extreme medieval-ism the Ivalice world felt like from the Tactics games. And I love it, as I really do like the darker tone, the sword-on-sword clash, sound of metal armor, clicking of heels on stone flooring sound design of this game a lot already and I'm super excited. Is the visuals maybe a bit generic? Eh I can't say. I thought 13 was trying way to hard to be "HD FF7" and thought that was in itself generic for this franchise. The only thing I don't like about the visuals is the way the older MC (the one in the band of mercenaries, with the scar) is too similar to not only the younger MC (the one in charge of protecting Joshua, his "shield" as he called himself) but also to Noctis himself. The "shield" MC I like though, he's not quite Noctis enough so I can see him as being different. He kinda makes me think of a midieval Zack Fair.

As for the plot, it looks like it is shaping up to be a potential revenge story.


Given context clues, it seems there's some kind of "blight" affecting the land, and the missing Mother Crystal seems to have disappeared or been stolen, this not able to stop it. We see mercenaries charged with targeting Shiva's "Dominant", and only that, implying the person summoning her. We also see Joshua (the blonde child) healing someone, and later what looks like him summoning Phoenix. Ifrit is then summoned by a malevolent force, and the two Fire Icons battle it out. At the end, it kinda appears to be Ifrit literally tearing Phoenix apart, which may result in Joshua's death, going into a coma, or capture. Then we get the younger main character, or not-Zack, appearing to tell the older main character, or not-Noctis, he will kill him.

i presume this means the other person is responsible, and this might be a case of one getting revenge against the other, while the other person is trying to do something against the Icons related to this Blight. That's my guess.
 

SuperSaiyanSora

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The only thing I don't like about the visuals is the way the older MC (the one in the band of mercenaries, with the scar) is too similar to not only the younger MC (the one in charge of protecting Joshua, his "shield" as he called himself) but also to Noctis himself. The "shield" MC I like though, he's not quite Noctis enough so I can see him as being different. He kinda makes me think of a midieval Zack Fair.

I think the general consensus seems to be that they may actually be the same person, but a time skip will occur. They look exactly the same minus the difference in age and facial marking, but who knows.
 

Xblade13

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I think the general consensus seems to be that they may actually be the same person, but a time skip will occur. They look exactly the same minus the difference in age and facial marking, but who knows.
Hmm that's a good point. In that case I kinda wish he was more distinct looking, like at least different colored hair or something. Oh well. XD
 

Sephiroth0812

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A time skip looks also feasible and logical considering the Opening post of this thread states the main character is a prince named Joshua.

Joshua however in the trailer is the young blond boy, not the black-haired Noctis expy. That one is stated to be Joshua's "shield" aka bodyguard and later parts of the trailer seem to show him failing spectacularly at protecting his young charge.

When did FF have last a full on child as a main protag? If Joshua is the little blond one and supposed to be the main protagonist the timeskip would be needed to age him up a little, possibly even as a resurrected person since it is not clear if he dies in the bloody carnage or is "just" heavily injured or captured. Him being connected to Phoenix would also play into this theme.

Going by this, the younger black-haired MC and child-Joshua would probably be all relegated to either flashbacks or a prologue episode set in the past.

The black-haired Noctis expy would in this case be the deuteragonist who is always playable when Joshua isn't because of plot reasons.

It is of course also possible, considering the Noctis expy using a part of Phoenix in the trailer, that Joshua indeed dies but his spirit/soul finds refuge in the body of his "shield" and therefore is always present within him or possibly even sharing the "driver's seat" of the body with each other.

Another possibility is of course also yet again time travel shenanigans and the black-haired MC is somehow fighting/swearing to kill his own younger/older self, whatever paradoxes that may cause.
 

Xblade13

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A time skip looks also feasible and logical considering the Opening post of this thread states the main character is a prince named Joshua.

Joshua however in the trailer is the young blond boy, not the black-haired Noctis expy. That one is stated to be Joshua's "shield" aka bodyguard and later parts of the trailer seem to show him failing spectacularly at protecting his young charge.

When did FF have last a full on child as a main protag? If Joshua is the little blond one and supposed to be the main protagonist the timeskip would be needed to age him up a little, possibly even as a resurrected person since it is not clear if he dies in the bloody carnage or is "just" heavily injured or captured. Him being connected to Phoenix would also play into this theme.

Going by this, the younger black-haired MC and child-Joshua would probably be all relegated to either flashbacks or a prologue episode set in the past.

The black-haired Noctis expy would in this case be the deuteragonist who is always playable when Joshua isn't because of plot reasons.

It is of course also possible, considering the Noctis expy using a part of Phoenix in the trailer, that Joshua indeed dies but his spirit/soul finds refuge in the body of his "shield" and therefore is always present within him or possibly even sharing the "driver's seat" of the body with each other.

Another possibility is of course also yet again time travel shenanigans and the black-haired MC is somehow fighting/swearing to kill his own younger/older self, whatever paradoxes that may cause.
Is the information at the beginning of the thread confirmed about Joshua being the "main character" though? Because I think he's just an Important Character, not the main playable one. It makes sense for me that, if young black hair and older black hair are indeed the same guy, that he is the main playable character for most of the game, and that he's seeking revenge for whatever happens with Phoenix, Ifrit, and Joshua.

If it is confirmed information than there's a lot about the plot still left confusing because of this.

I have the strange feeling most if what we saw is fairly early game, just the setup for the revenge quest being the main plot so to speak.
 

2 quid is good

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I'm genuinely impressed we're getting a trailer with gameplay and in game graphics, and not just a cgi teaser, but I feel like the designs are a little generic and FF14 reminiscent, also I hope they brighten up the world of FF16, the last thing I wanna do in a video game is have to be reminded of the depressing weather outside my house
 
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I would love to see a female main antagonist. It’s crazy how Ultimecia is the only one in the entire series (I don’t count Cloud of Darkness since it’s genderless), and to be honest she’s actually one of the best of all the antagonists in my opinion. Unapologetically evil with no sad back story that makes you feel bad for her, like pretty much all of the other FF antagonists (except Kefka).
 

Sephiroth0812

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Is the information at the beginning of the thread confirmed about Joshua being the "main character" though? Because I think he's just an Important Character, not the main playable one. It makes sense for me that, if young black hair and older black hair are indeed the same guy, that he is the main playable character for most of the game, and that he's seeking revenge for whatever happens with Phoenix, Ifrit, and Joshua.

If it is confirmed information than there's a lot about the plot still left confusing because of this.

I have the strange feeling most if what we saw is fairly early game, just the setup for the revenge quest being the main plot so to speak.

Tbh I don't know what is "officially confirmed", I just go shooting assumptions into the sparse material that is the trailer itself and what the OP says.

Final Fantasy is also known to be more friendly to party play with multiple important and playable characters, unlike KH, so I'm pretty sure we won't be confined solely to the Noctis knock-off.
Not after they had to literally patch the other characters in XV as playable because of the huge backlash about only a single playable character.

A revenge-plot is of course also possible as we have so little to go on with so far that the overall story can take various roads and themes. It is also possible the black-haired character is on an atonement journey to somehow make amends for his failures in the events the later parts of the trailer show. Right now there are literally dozens of possibilities.

There is generally much still "confusing" about the plot because we have only these few scraps to theorize and play with.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Now that's something I did not expect to hear in 2020

Yes. Many people don’t realize Crystal Tools is still a working and used engine xD

But SE spent millions on it and likely millions more retooling it for Yoshi P over the years. I mentioned it to Ballad, but the engine was always extremely powerful but the PS3’s hardware couldn’t handle the full capabilities of it, and by time PS4 rolled around SE had their hearts set on Luminous until they ended up facing the same issues there with PS4/XB1 and they opted to use UE4 and Unity for their projects outside of specific studios because they were tried and true engines. At that point, too, the full strength of Crystal Tools couldn’t be shown off in XIV ARR due to how that game was designed and the fact that it was a MMO.

It’ll be interesting to see what sort of improvements they make over the next year or so. The game looks stunning although different from something that could be made in UE4 and Luminous, but I am almost certain they are using some sort of middleware for the lighting and the particle effects (and I think it is a different version of Luminous because that was initially its purpose back in the day; to be a lighting and effects tool that operates in conjunction with Crystal Tools)

Alas, outside of knowing it is Crystal Tools, I’m just making a lot of assumptions.
 

Ballad of Caius

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My hope for this game is that they learn from XV and just commit to a solid experience without thinking about how they can market 10 other games under its umbrella.
FINAL FANTASY XV was under the experimental consideration of "game as a service". From the looks of it, I don't think FFXVI will fall under this, so I'm not expecting this happen. Of course, we can expect Marketing by crossovers with other FF properties.

I am also kindof hoping we stick to the genre. Just let it be a medieval fantasy setting, just because it's been sooo long for a main entry. I love the aesthetic of IX and XII, but they err a bit more towards steampunk. I could do with one FF title that doesn't force the sci-fi elements in there. EDIT: I love sci-fi, but I like different flavors.
I know it's waaay too early, but FFXVII could also be set in a medieval world.

I like the mention of Shiva at the beginning.
They made it sound as if Shiva is a villain or is being used by the villain.

I hope the woman we see around the two minute mark is the villain--we need a good villainess! Someone as good or better than Ultimecia.
Oh yeah. We haven't had a main villainess.

There's a theory at the moment that ffxvi is connected to Vagrant Story. What with Joshua from ffxvi resembling Joshua from Vagrant Story. And considering Yoshi P is a matsuno fan and has worked with him before it's worth keeping in mind.
I mean, the main character pretty much resembles the FFXIV MC and Noctis. But I doubt this game will fall into the Ivalice Alliance. What may happen is that it could take a lot of inspiration from it.

Did you think they weren't?
Yes, because Luminious has its own studio and they're working on Project Athia.

I was under the impression the smart thing to do was that when the graphics themselves don't make that huge of a jump.
Oracle Spockanort clarified and this team is using Crystal Tools, which is why they resemble more the Lightning Returns characters than FFXV.

Either my definition of a twink is off or are you talking about someone else than the player character.
Noctis and Prompto are twinks. Ignis is more like regular and Gladio is a gym buff. hahaah

The bro-ship in XV is just too iconic, too captivating, too real...
Eh, it's a change in tone. What I'm worried is that fans will bash FFXVI, see FFXV with better eyes and start this vicious cycle of bashing the new FF in favor of the older one.
 
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