Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Michael Higham joins Tim and Andy and Blessing as they give their review of Final Fantasy XVI. Follow Michael at https://twitter.com/michaelphigham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast. Of course, I'm Tim Gettys and I'm joined by the new base video games blessing at E. E.OIA Jr. Good afternoon, Tim. My brother in Final Fantasy love, Michael Hi. Hey, what up, man. Thank you for having me here again. Have to do it.

This is what, your third time now on the show just to talk about Final Fantasy 16? Oh, my God. It's official, baby. It's the review. And rounding out the group today, we have the Nitro Rifle, Andy Cortez. I think maybe the fourth time we had you. was to talk about Fantasy 14 online. During the pandemic.

Oh, right. You were just walking by a bless his room and they're like, Michael, come in here and you just talked for about 50 minutes. And then after that, though, was Crisis Corps. Oh, wow. Damn. You've been pigeonholed. Yes. Oh, I love it so much. Of course, this is the kind of funny games cast

for each and every week. We get together to talk about video games and all the things that we love about them. And let me tell you, I'm really loving video games right now. This year just continues to be absolutely wild. I can't wait to get in all the details about this game, but Fallam Fancy 16 delivered y'all. The great year rolls on.

Real quick, want to get it out of the way, I'm very badly sunburned, all right? Leave your funny joke comments in the comments. We can move on. It's a great stuff. It's a lot of lighting. It's just a lighting. It's just it hurts.

It hurts. It hurts real. It's those through everyone. I hate to see it. I'm going to use the word pus. Oh, yo, your man is cook. They might say that in Final Faines 16. They might, man.

It's M rated. It's M rated. They can do whatever they want. And they do. But of course, we can say whatever we want here on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games or roost your teeth.com. If you want to get it as a podcast, you can search your favorite podcast service for Kind of Funny Gamescast. And we will be right there for you for all you needed. Spoilercast and previews and reviews and impressions, anything, predictions under the video game suns. You can go check all of that out each and every week.

Today we're brought to you by better help, but I'll tell you about that later, unless you're on patreon.com slash Kind of Funny, where you can get the show ad free. You can watch live as it's recorded. And you get to be a super cool Patreon producer like Delaney Twining. We appreciate you so very, very much. Actually, I think that there's another set of producers that I'm going to pull up right now. Bless, talk for a second. Well, I mean, I might get those before you do because I got the KHD doc opened up right now.

The patron producers are Casey Andrew, Delaney Twining, and James Hastings. James Hastings. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Bless for that assist right there. I got you. Anyways, enough of a lot. all of that, the day has come, we're talking about Final Fantasy 16. Our official review.

I'm the lead reviewer on this. It's very rare these days that I take lead position on games, a lot of stuff going on. But for Final Fantasy 16, I was like, I think this one has to do it. I'll do it myself. You did the thing. Put me in coach. I did. I just want to start off by saying that this is, I think, the best Final Fantasy game ever made.

Wow. I think this is one of the best video games ever made. Time will tell where this falls on my list of favorite Final Fantasy. And I think that that's crazy, but when it comes to what makes a Final Fantasy, I think this game reinvents all of that for a modern audience, a more mainstream audience, while also showing so much love to the people that have been there from the beginning, the people that have been there for the last couple iterations, whatever their entry point into Final Fantasy,

I think that Final Fantasy 15 is the God of War. 16. Sorry, sorry, 16. I think Final Fantasy 2016 is the God of War 2018 moment for this franchise. I think that from a narrative point of view, from a combat point of view, from a just pure vision standpoint, the production values of this game, everything works together so beautifully and the game only gets better the more you play it. I'm like 65 hours into this thing. I have done every side quest that has come up along the way.

I am just enthralled with everything that this game has to offer. rolled credits last night and just the amounts that I was playing and had to play to get this review done. I played this game 14 hours yesterday. 14 hours. That is the most I've ever played a video game in one day. And I didn't need to do that.

I could have not done side quests. I could have not done a whole bunch of stuff. I needed to. That's why his face is red. That is. It's a PS5. I will say, and I tweeted this. I have never seen my PS5 or anyone's

PS5 over heat 10 different times playing this game. My PS5 literally said, yo, turn this off. It is getting too hot. Never crashed, not a single crash, but every boss fight pretty much. And you'll understand what you're playing. There's a lot going on. But I would get this warning pop up. Has anybody else had that? No. Okay, me and straight. Y'all's broke ass, more. I know what's weird about it. I clean my PS5. It is out in the open. There's so much space around it. I got fans going everywhere. Whatever. Didn't crash.

But Final Fantasy 16 I think is absolutely incredible. I can't stop thinking about it. I don't think I'm going to stop thinking about it or talking about it. The only thing that makes me sad is this is a completely spoiler free review and all I want to do is talk to you boys about spoilers

because there's a lot to be spoiled in this game and it is incredibly special stuff. I think that this is pushing the franchise forward in such a major way and they did it. They did it. Bless, what do you think? Yeah, no, it's fun

reviewing this game and playing through it and getting to the end and thinking about the pieces of media that I hold as, oh, these are the masterpieces that I've experienced this year, right? Because I go from across the Spider-Verse, right, is up there. The last of this TV show is up there. Zellar here's the King was up there. And I didn't think... Twisted metal coming up.

Twisted metal is coming up soon, yeah, and that's going to be in there. I didn't think that Final Fantasy 16 would enter that list, but it's 1,000% in that list. Like, it's probably one of my favorite pieces of media at the end of the day that I've experienced in 2023. And it's just phenomenal. Like, on every single level that I play this game, right, where the combat system, I'd say rivals so many action game combat systems.

And it's an RPG, right? It's a JRP or an action RPG, however you want to categorize it. But it rivals the Delphemy CRIES of the world or any other character action game you want to list out. And it took a little bit to get there, right? In the first 15 hours, I was very much like, okay, this is good. I can see what this is going. Like, this is fine.

And then by the time I got 25, 30, 35, 40 hours in, that combat system starts to sing in a way that just had me enthralled. And just really quickly, Rota Suzuki, the combat designer prior work on DMC, mentioned that this is his masterpiece. And honestly, in a lot of ways I can see it because I think they do such a good job with all the different systems working in tandem to really make it. seeing like I think the one thing out there is maybe I could have gotten more out of some of the enemy combat design like there's a lot of enemy variety but I think they could have done a bit more with how the enemies actually like interact in like the ways in which you um have to like solve different issues right like a lot of the combat stuff feels the same in that but the combat tool set they

give you is so fun and so great and you get further and they add in more complexity that makes it dope where you have your equipable items you have like the your skill tree abilities and all the stuff and one of the equipable items you get is, or at least that I got in my playthrough, was one that made it so that I can automatically charge my magic moves, right? And so I had that, and then there was like a skill tree move to where I can, if you hold square,

you can do like a charge up to your sword. But it takes a while, it's great, but it takes a while to charge up until I got a skill, until I leveled it up in the skill tree. And so like now it charges up pretty fast. Using like that to then, I hold square, charges up real quick,

smash an enemy. They float up in the, air and then I got the automatic charge thing. So I use that to like hit the enemy and they get like another burst of damage and then I use my Phoenix Shift, which is like one of the first abilities to get in the game to teleport to them and I'm getting the air combos on them. Such a satisfying feeling that I never thought I would get out of a final fantasy game. Like this is a fantastic combat system. You have that but then you also have storytelling and real building that I'd say is at the peak of fantasy RPG story. The story is very, it has a very, it has

like, you know, a big scope, but the way in which they deliver it to you is very digestible. And the active time lore, is that what's called? Active Time lore? Such a great system that I hope to see in so many games going forward. Like, that is actually pushing things forward in terms of giving you all the lore tidbits you need in real time. You hold the touchpad button at any moment in the game and it pauses and gives you all like the, basically like the like small excerpts, like small Wikipedia entries on all these characters. Contextual to that specific scene. Yeah. And so it's like, oh, yeah. who's this guy again, you hold that, and it tells you exactly who that person is at that time in the game, right?

It's all contextual to what's going on. It also lets you know when it's updating as well, really nice. There's always a little icon. Like when you get a new text and you see a little bubble or whatever, like it'll let you know, oh, there's a new addition to whoever this person's lore is or whatever this place's lore is. And it's so good. It keeps you involved with what's going on. It tells you about not just people, but locations. Like, where are you at right now? What part of the, what part of the nation are. you in, right? Like, what are the different factions or different things? Like, they have so much

in there that clues you into what's going on that kept me involved the whole time as somebody who I admittedly am not a big fantasy person. I was into the lore and the fantasy because they do such a good job of ushering you in. The cinematics in the game, some of the best stuff you're going to see in this game, right? Like, there are moments in this game in terms of epic, epicness and skill that rival a god of war in a way that, you know, like I look at God of War as a peak of that when you're talking about like cutscene battles that are fantastic to look at. This game in moments puts Scott Award to shame. And I never thought I'd say that. Like there is some scale in the cutscene in this game that look fantastic and also run fantastic. In the gameplay, even. And even in the

gameplay, yeah, where you're feeling that same level of epicence in scale that, you know, that shuts other games down. And then, yeah, the character work as well. Like I fell in love with characters in this game. Clive, absolutely love. Did not think I was going to love Clive as much as I ended up falling in love with that character. His motivation is great. The moment-to-moment interactions that he has between characters is great. He's still that, like, manly, gruff, brooding, handsome, but like in a manly way kind of dude.

But the further you dig into his character, the more I really, really appreciate this character. And, yeah, like, this game is a five out of five for me. And it's a really easy five out of five. It's a fantastic game. Real quick before we move on high and bless, how long does it take you to beat it? And Tim, how long it take you to beat it?

took me 50 hours and I wanted to do more. I wanted to have a beat by the time I finished it, but I'm reloading my last save and I'm doing more side quests because I want to do more. I'm 65 hours in. I did every single side quest available. There are some other things that I'm not going to talk about that are available as well that I haven't done yet, but I can't wait to get back to it. I am. What do you think about the game? Oh my God. This game, I've been waiting for this for a very long time. I remember when I was sitting in my room in September 2020, crying, as I heard, though, their rendition of the Crystal Prelude, performed by an orchestra with our first introduction to the world of Valisdia

and Clive as our protagonist. It's finally here. I finally played it. Fifty-five hours, I played this game, and I love it very dearly. It's, I mean, you can check out my review on Gapestpot.com. I landed on a 9 out of 10, which is superb. It's a fucking incredible game for all the reasons that you all stated. So for me, like all that stuff y'all said, I 1,000% agree and is 100% true. The things that I hold most dear in a Final Fantasy and in 16 is the character work.

Because you see these characters go through so much trauma, so much tragedy in their life. And they have a lot of, they have like the burden of their sins weighed upon them. But they're not ones that they chose to do because of the circumstances that that world had put them. So you see these arcs of atonement and making what's making the world right and fighting for the social injustices that you see across this world. One of the things I said in my preview is like, all right, I want to see how this game handles its themes of persecution and slatement. Because those are touchy subjects and if you don't do them right, they can fall flat. but there are key moments in the writing in this game that make it very clear that it understands what it's working with, especially in dialogue with like Sid,

where he is kind of the crux of the revolution that is happening in Valescia. And some of the things that he says to Clive and Jill, when they're still kind of on the fence about joining his cause, are so powerful and so sharply written that it feels like, yes, this team has an understanding of the dynamics because it's complicated. Though these topics are complicated and the writing shows that they understand those dynamics and it shows through

in the character's actions and how they feel and how they develop and how they grow. But even beyond that, a lot of the supporting characters also go through their own arcs and have an important place in the story and they get their moments. In their most critical, most crucial moments

they fucking rise up and put their foot down and oh my God, they just really sell the moment where there's the voice, acting, the choreography of the cutscene, the music that's playing, the thing that they're doing, that they've been motivated throughout this whole game, they finally do it, you just feel this weight off of their shoulders. And it's moments like these that I will never forget. And these are things that Final Fantasy has always done, but in this particular way, at this high of a level

of production values, it makes those small moments with these characters, feel so monumental. And the thing is, is that that's one part of the equation, right? The icons, the icon battles. Those, at first, when we played the previews, I was like, oh, okay, cool, I see what they're doing.

They're, they're not that deep, and maybe that's just them trying to flex and, like, really give people that cinematic experience that will probably rope them in. But as the game goes on, without saying anything, spoiler, spoilers, of course, is that they find, a way to make those

bombastic, those over the top fucking dragon ballsy power level type shit, Osir's wrath type shit. Oh yeah. They make those things feel grounded. Like those moments matter. They're saying something about the characters, their personalities and what it is that they're fighting for.

So I think that 16 does such a great job of melding the fantastical over the top stuff with the more ground, like what's happening at the ground level with people's lives. And that is an achievement. I think that, like, I didn't expect them to execute it as well as they did. And I think that's probably the most impressive part to me. Yeah, I think the Dragon Ball Z influence is, like,

very apparent when you play through it. And I think I might have texted you this while playing that. Like, playing this game feels like you're watching five seasons of Dragon Ball Zee. It's fucking matching. And Game of Thrones. At the same time. Yeah. And it works. You ever want Dragon Ball Z and Game of Thrones? Well, I got a game for y'all. Yeah. I mean, This game carries so much influence that I think, and I think it takes all the right parts because, yeah, there's Dragon Ball Z in there. There's Game of Thrones in there. There's God of War in there, right? There's God of War in there, there's God of War games. There's the Witcher May Cry in there. And all of those things are implemented in all the right way. It's a creative experience that is going to speak to traditional Final Fantasy fans like Tim and Michael, right? And I think a lot of new people, you know, like I'm coming into this as somebody who really enjoyed Final Fantasy. But, you know, when it comes to the history of Final Fantasy, I'm not somebody who gravitates toward the franchise. This one is. This one is. brought me in and it is what it is it is now one of my it's my top like 30 games right if I had to break it down right and Final Fantasy some remake is in there as well but

man like did this thing make me feel the magic of Final Fantasy in a way that I didn't know I can feel again for something that is on this side of fantasy you know like I'm with you Tim that this traditional you know fantasy that is about kingdoms and orcs and goblins are running around they got to fight and all this shit like that's not my kind of thing I love the steam puckness and the style of a Final Fantasy 7 I like a sci-fi type thing

I'm totally into this fantasy world and I'm not usually the Taria audience of this kind of thing but they did it Yeah Andy I want to get to you in just one sec But just keeping on what you're saying here about The inspirations the Game of Thrones We bring up God of War we bring up Good because I'm about to roast this shit

Like But not only is all that I do really want to stress It's also Final Fantasy It is so so so Final Fantasy And what I think is powerful about this is I think the biggest correlation to God of War besides the quality of writing and production values and gameplay and everything of what makes that game good,

this game does all that as well. It is the idea that you didn't need to play any of the other God of War so you can jump into 2018 and it be this amazing experience for you. If you knew the other stuff, it's cool, but contextually you get it all. Final Fantasy 7 remake, same kind of idea. That game works, but it works way better

if you know the other stuff. Yeah. Fallen Fantasy 16, you don't need to know anything about previous Final Fantasy's because Final Fantasy's been an anthology series but this one I think really put their best foot forward to being like we're going to make the

Final Fantasy you bringing up the crystal theme which is the theme of Final Fantasy is like the menu music for most of them this game uses that theme as its theme essentially like throughout the entire game it weaves it in the idea of the crystals the idea of the summons getting

familiar with who they all are we know what Bahamit means compared to but have they ever had this much story story to them? No. Not like this. I mean, there's been ones

where there are some games that they're way more involved in the story than others. But I think that this one was really like, what matters about Final Fantasy? Cool. Let's tell the...

I know I'm relating it to a lot of things, but there are a lot of things that I love that I stand by it. The MCU, where it took decades of Marvel history and was like, okay, but let's do this

for the Andes of the world that are interested, but haven't read the comics. But let's have a definitive take on, the mainstream appeal of this. That's what I think this game is. And then they took that opportunity.

It's kind of like when artists have the pop single and then the album's just full of like hitters, like Mims did back with the, that's why I'm hot. Move if you want to. Music is my savior. Was not expecting a minute. There we go.

My savior. But it's like I kind of feel like they did that with this. They're like, yo, this is going to be the entry points. Raider damn. Y'all like Game of Thrones, you're going to like this. But then they're also like, but really, though. But guess what? This is the best fucking final fantasy you ever, don't know. But also, like, it has a very satisfying end.

And, like, that's the thing that I didn't get out of Final Fantasy 7 remake is, you know, I played the remake. I, you know, finished 7 remake and I really enjoyed it. But I then had to look toward Tim and Imran to be like, what happened? Like, what's going on here? Whispers, baby. Yeah, it's like, I feel so empty by this ending because I feel like I'm not in the end crowd. You play through Final Fantasy 16 and it feels like one full epic product that is from beginning to end dope and it finishes and it's like, oh, okay, I love this. Like, it's given me everything.

We're glowing, Andy. You're up next. How far are you? And what are you thinking? You can kill it right now. I'm about 15 to 18 hours, I'd say, around there. I am blown away by so much of what this video game does. I think the reason why it's resonating so much more with me than Final Fantasy 7 remake did,

and I loved that game, is like, if I'm going to sit down to watch an HBO drama, I know what I'm in for and you kind of have those. expectations. And if I'm going to sit down to watch My Hero Academia, I know what I'm in for, and I have those expectations. But if I was to get My Hero Academia type dialogue and acting and writing in my HBO drama that I expect to win several Emmys, I'd be like, ooh, this is kind of weird and kind of throwing me off. And I've always kind of felt that way with a lot of different Final fantasies. And I know that it's like one thing High I'm loved is like the kind of like goofy, lightheartedness that you get from a lot of,

from a lot of Final Fantasy entries. And this one, I think, is doing such a great job to stay really, really mature, while still throwing in some nice, you know, little, like, sweet moments between characters. But I just think story-wise and writing-wise,

like, I texted Tim about just a random throwaway line that was really impressive to hear in a game that I wasn't expecting to get that from. I'm expecting the epic moments. I'm expecting the get-hyped stuff where the music is just crescendoing to all hell and all the action is happening on the screen. You're like, wow, what a feast and what I'm getting here.

But I wasn't expecting to be like just impressed by a little random offhand comments by characters. And I think like the dialogue and the writing is so strong. It's very strong. In this game. I'm incredibly impressed by it. Combat, absolute blasts, just like what everybody's mentioned already,

it is so freaking fun just to get creative with it and make your own fun out of it. And it almost reminds me of the arguments who we're having when Avengers came out. The Avengers, the Avengers, um... Video game? I was going to say pay to win game,

but I meant a game to service game. And you started seeing people pulling off really crazy cool combos in that game. And it's like, look, it is just punchy punch to get the number go up. you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, like what we're used to with games like this. But you can make a lot of fun with it if you just tried. It doesn't have to just be button-mash, button-mash, I'm, you know, I'm going to do this the boring way.

I feel that way about this game tenfold. The way that you can mix up with all the different iconic powers, like Blessing was mentioning, I love getting an enemy mid-air, zipping up to him, punching, punching, punch in, zip to somebody else, knock them down, switch to the other power, because that's going to give me a different, ability. It is so damn fun. I am not as impressed as I thought I'd be with

the visuals. I was talking to Tim about this and it's just like little gripe, nothing major at all. When you're in performance mode this game runs at 1080p and it's upscaled to 1440p and it just looks fuzzier than I would want it to compared to other titles

like when I think of Horizon Forbidden West and like how graphically like the fidelity in that game was just jaw-dropping. And there are a lot of moments in this game where you notice that a lot of the time and budget went into these incredibly flashy,

amazing moments that are worth it. Like, don't get me wrong, they are absolutely worth it. But then you go talk to random NPC and it looks very much like the PC game. There's an uncanny valley, right? Yeah, there's like, and those moments kind of like stick out to me more and more because I'm so used to seeing these characters

in these cutscenes be so expressive and like you're watching them cry, you're watching this and that, and then they go talk to an NPC, and it's the automated animations with the mouth that just kind of moves. And there's even a moment I had recently where Clive is like, get away from her! And he's like just incredibly dramatic moment, but it's like there's no face animation.

So he's just like, flapping his jaw, get away from it. And it's like, those are the moments that do kind of bum me out because I expect, you know, this game we've been talking about, you know, how expensive it looks. And it certainly looks at when a lot of moments. moments and in certain ways not so much, in my opinion. But aside from that, I can tell that I, I mean, I'm going to keep on playing this game, obviously, I'm going to beat it.

And I can tell that this is easily going to be a contender. Oh, yeah. Top 10 of the year. It's amazing. It is a must play, even if you don't care about Final Fantasy as a franchise, I've seen a lot of conjecture and people getting into the demo that recently came out and wondering, is this a good one to hop in on? Obviously, they were all standalone, but this one, I think, more than any of them, is easier to get into, like Blessie was mentioning the digestible story.

I think it's easier to get into for somebody who isn't necessarily into playing JRP's or maybe you get into those games and you're like, oh, the tone is not what I expected to be. This is like so perfect in so many ways. And I love this video game. I definitely agree with the, like, character models, you know, seeming awkward in times. especially when it's like those non-cinematic moments and it is you walking around you talk to somebody and I've noticed the exact thing of

yeah their mouth is moving but like the top half of their face seems like it's like cemented but it feels like in no mode it feels like I'm on performance mode yeah but one thing I do want to shout out is are the environments

the environments look fucking fantastic right like when you're walking moment to moment especially when you're doing like a main line like not a side quest a main quest and you get to a location and it feels like they put in like a lot of time a lot of time

into making environments that you're going to see for 10 seconds. When they set up the wallpaper type moments and they know what the fuck they're doing. And it looks incredible. And you haven't even seen them yet. Like there's so many towns you get to that you're like,

lighting is great. I love whatever lighting they're using this engine. Technically there's like a lot of stuff to really be blown away by and I'm really happy that they kind of walked back the no day one patch thing because it does seem like there will be some sort of day one.

one patch kind of addressing a bit more frame rate issues. And I don't think, I think the frame rate from what I'm playing now, compared to when me and Tim played it back a couple months ago in L.A., I feel like it's improved a lot, still not perfect, but definitely way more improved. And I feel a lot better about it now than I did when we did that preview. And I was like, ooh, I hope they get some patches in because this is kind of rough. I was going to ask you what you're playing on, but it's only on PS5.

It's only on PS5, yeah, yeah. I want to keep talking about this stuff. But first, here's a word from our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. It's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else needs from you and never take a moment to think about what you need from yourself. I know this from experience how often it just seems easier to care about others and to keep it moving.

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H-E-L-P dot com slash Kind of Funny. I played majority of the game on performance mode and I started realizing kind of what you're saying where I'm like, man, this looks so good but I just want to look a little bit better. I switched over to graphics mode, never went back. It's consistent. Motionble are so tough for me.

It is. It is. And like that's the thing, it's not perfect, but it is a stunner. Like the 4K resolution on this game, it makes it look so damn good. It solves a lot of the problems you're talking about for me where I'm like

all of a sudden everything feels like, not just upscaled, it feels right. But yeah, then the gameplay stuff, you do need to kind of adjust to 30, which I know for some people. That's my thing is impossible. You can tell that there are moments in gameplay where it's like,

oh, this is hitting 60, but then other moments that I think when you're in non-combat where the frame race is sort of taking a hit. But when you're in combat and it's hitting at 60, oh, that shit is smooth. I need that. It's so great.

And I'd say that's, One of the maiden reasons why I am a little bit disappointed with just the overall looks and performance of it. Because we know that we heard them talking about what a luxury it is to just develop for one platform. And you expect that to mean that like, you know, when a game is going to come out on a million different PC skews and Xbox, SNX and PS5, that comes with a lot of issues of trying to optimize for a million different variables and variations is what I'm at. to say, but, um, like for PS5, I expected this to be like, the cleanest launch and unfortunately, it's not perfect, but still very, very good. And that's just me being a little nitpicky jerk. Yeah, because I mean, with, with that stuff, it's like, I, I am so blown away

by the visuals and everything about it, like, just from a audio, video standpoint from this. The surround mix is incredible. Uh, the music be hit in dog. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And it just doesn't stop. It just doesn't stop. I will say, though, for both visuals and audits. audio, and this is the biggest nitpick thing ever, but it's where we're at because the uncanny valley starts to come across a bit, I'm like, this is not a real orchestra. I can tell it's not a real orchestra. The CG stuff, like Crisis Corps back in 2007 on PSP, those were fully animated like, summit animation. This is an engine. So because of that, everything looks the same, which is great in the right move for this game, but it's like, there's just something

where I'm like, I know that this could be even more like out there. Something's look even better. it's like, I just feel like because everything about the game so elevated, that those things, I can't wait for the distant worlds concert. Oh my God. An actual orchestra playing these songs. Like, that shit's about to be utterly insane. I'm used to playing just on, you know, my crappy TV speakers. And there was a moment where I audibly last night hit a hit a spot and a fucking track starts

just bopping. And I, I paused it. And I was like, they're not doing this right. I got to get headphones. Like, I got to like figure out a better situation because my TV speakers are. are not going to do this justice. You don't want to do that. It was awesome.

I have been hyping up Masiyoshi Soken ever since I got into Final Fantasy 14 and though people who do not play that game can finally see what the fuck I've been talking about, man. There's a part late game where I literally like I saved the clip because there's a song playing in this very tense moment and my microphone is on like it usually is when I'm playing games for some reason and you hear me say out loud,

damn somebody's about to sample this and make the dopest hip-hop. Oh my God. Yeah, it's incredible. And I dedicate a section in my review specifically for this because music is part of Final Fantasy's storytelling. Like those melodies that you remember.

Yeah, another MIMS reference. Yo, Nobuo O'Matsu loves Mims, I bet. No, but it's like those, you hear a song from like seven or whatever, six or four. And I was like, holy shit. I remember exactly what was happening in that game, what was happening in my life. and 16 has brings that and it has like the memorable melodies the late motifs that really speak to the emotion of the moment that really sell you on these characters and what they're doing in that moment and I think like the way that they use the like crystal prelude and the theme too and the way that team weave it into those those moments it feels like they understand what makes final fantasy's music click and then even just like the the the

normal boss theme, like the mini boss theme where it has like the Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Very Final Fantasy two battle So many homages in this to like It's not just oh the crystal theme that's in everything It's also like Inspired by like there's some like

Love grows inspiration Final Fantasy 8 style stuff going on in moments The Battle of the Dream That's the battle of course Yeah I loved how much like little touches that he had To if you know you know But if you don't you don't need to Because it is just kind of

So many amazing new arrangements of just like brand new songs that are going to be new classics going forward. For Tim and Hyam, do you all feel, blessing you, feel for your name. Oh, no, screw you. But like as you all being like the lifelong Final Fantasy fans, is this where you want to see the direction from here going out? Like, do you want to see any changes? Because like, as an example, when I saw Star Wars Andor, I was like,

I just want this. Why can't it always be like this? And people are like, well, it's. got to be different styles every once in a while. Like, do you see, would it be good if the future of Final Fantasy was always this sort of over-the-top action with combat and like insane button prompts and all that stuff? Let me take this one first.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Go ahead. My answer is yes that this is what the future of Final Fantasy should be because this is what Final Fantasy has always been. It's something different every single time. Final Fantasy 15 very different than this.

Final Fantasy 14, extremely different. You look at 10, you look at 9, like there's through lines, there's things that make them special. I think that what I want to see is this commitment to a vision, whatever that vision is. I do not think that the next Final Fantasy needs to play exactly like this or be rated M even. I don't even necessarily think it should be. I think that this game committed so hard and did that shit right and made it worth it and made it stand up as like, oh, this is going to go down as one of the iconic violent fantasies. This one will be named in the pantheon of talking about

about six, talking about 12, and again, at this point with Final Fantasy, talk to any different person, they're going to have a different one up there. I think this one's going to be in so many people's lists. And I think that that is what I want to see more of, is a commitment to a vision that they stand by that isn't afraid to kind of do something that radically different that might alienate part of the fan base, but they've been doing that since day one. Yeah, yeah. For me, it's, I want them to do this again. I wanted to see them take a second crack at at this kind of Final Fantasy because I can see

ways in which this can be even better. And like I have some nitpicks about this game that kind of like, oh, I gave it a nine and ten, incredible game. Love it dearly. But there are some things that I feel like that they can improve on.

And things like side quests, which are rewarding, and I would encourage people to seek them all out. But the process of actually doing the side quests aren't very thrilling. It feels like a very noticeable, lull in the cadence of the game and the qualities of the game.

It feels like a different team worked on them. Yeah. So another thing I want to bring up that is also kind of a positive is that there are a lot of Final Fantasy 14 isms that I see in this game extremely clearly. And SideQuest is kind of one of them. It's like, it's okay if that style of SideQuest is an MMO. It's different when you're putting it in a AAA, like, high budget game like this that has such high peaks that these Valities stick out like sore thumbs.

but the foundation is incredible like this game like they work so hard to create this gameplay system that's so different from anything else it'd be a shame if they didn't use it in some form or fashion again in the future and the like the production values and the ways that they build out lore for a singular world is like damn

like one I would like a 16 too but I also want to see them take another crack at this with a different world maybe maybe something that isn't tied to medieval fantasy even though this is a very good version of a medieval fantasy, I would, yeah, I'd be ashamed if they didn't use it again. Where like I would like to see more 16s, right? And I don't know what that looks like,

maybe like 16 spinoffs or 162 if that's even possible. And like I would love to see, like Tim's talking about it, like I would like see 17 be something that's completely fresh and new. I think that's the way that you keep the franchise going because we've seen it with Final Fantasy, I mean we saw it with 13, right? And like that hit its own way. But like seven is its own franchise, right? Like it's fun to see 16s coming out right now.

And then next winter or early next year, we're going to see seven rebirth, right? And we just played seven crisis core last year. And, you know, that's, I think that is how Final Fantasy is able to iterate upon itself. And I think, I mean, to your point of things they can do with it, I would love to see them take another crack at this and, like, take in feedback on even things they've had with, like, representation and stuff. Because that's conversations that we've had on KHD and on the shows over the years of the fact that there's not really any people of color. in this game. And that's the thing that I think is glaring when you look at the subject matter of it being about. It kind of like, I kind of see why. Yeah, that's the thing is like, it's a story about persecution. It's a story about slavery and a lot and like a lot of subject matter that is

very sensitive. And I can understand the fear of not wanting to have people of color in that because then you have to deal with the thing of, okay, this character is a slave, but they're also like dark skin and how are people going to take this? Now are we going to do we have the appropriate voice in perspective to people to deliver a story like this that is authentic and also good and non-offensive. I get that reasoning. I also think it's not a good enough reasoning to go. Let's not for black people or people color in the story,

especially when there are areas in the game that are influenced and inspired by locations in real world that have darker skin and people. You know, like that is that and I don't know, it strikes me as weird and strikes me as like, oh man, that's such an odd thing and I get it, but you should do better. And I think they can, right? like from what I've read online

from what I've talked to people about, right? Like it seems like Yoshi P and the team are the kind of people that want to do good, right? And there are even things in Final Fantasy 16 where I'm like, oh, that's pushing things forward. Oh, yeah, yeah. There are very progressive moments in Final Fantasy 16 that I would not have expected, right?

So I think there's potential to do that. And I would love to see that stuff you put into like whatever the next thing for 16 or for Final Fantasy is. Yeah, yeah, definitely there are moments that I'm like, oh, they went there. I mean, not just like in the bombastic moments that I'm like,

I can't believe that they're doing this, but also some of the more progressive themes that they kind of fit into their. And it feels natural, too. But those things, like with queer characters, with their female characters, I think they have a surprisingly positive outlook on sex work because it's a respectable profession in the world of Valestia. And they're such important allies to Clive in critical moments. so and like the things that that they let jill do on her own is just like really wild to see and i love it for that but things like dalmecia where you walk into dalmecia for the first time and you hear sitars and it's like obviously south asian influenced music there and you go there and it's like there are some south asian passing character models there but then there's also like tanned

white people it's like yo what if tim was actually outside for like three more days came back recovered is like oh he lives in dalmechi now it's like ah i guess he's i guess he's he's down mecky and so it's it's it's another one of those uncanny valleys where it's like you you got it so right in this regard and then other other ways it's like ah you could that could do a little bit more work there um and it's and i've seen them do it in 14 because uh i mean not the 14 is perfect but environments like thavnir which is heavily influenced by by india and south asia and the way they meld the characters, the voices, the accents, the culture of that fictional world is so, like,

it has reverence for its influences and shows it in respectful ways. So, like, I know that they can do it. And I know that they've done in the past. So it makes those lulls in 16, like, a little bit, stick out a little bit more for me as well. But it's nothing short of having incredible moments that it does get right. Yeah. So a couple more complaints.

A couple more complaints I've got. I feel like crafting just feels really non-essential. Unclear at best. Yeah, and it's not like most video games where you, it just feels like they threw it in there because they were told they had to have something like it. To gate you get plays. Yeah, and can't have that until you do this. Yeah, so like.

crafting like you don't even know what sort of weapon you want necessarily but usually in games I go man I really want that thing but I need five of these bore hides let me go try to get the let me kill a bunch of boars and oh what's the drop rate oh I finally got the five bore hides let me go make this this sword that I've been looking for it just feels like it's kind of shoe horned in there without really a whole lot of reason like I would have liked an option to like mark certain materials and where you can find them on the map because like I

It feels very secondary to the whole experience. Yeah, because like for me the crafting was essential for upgrading my weapon, right, and keep my attack damage up or whatever, but it also just wasn't engaging. Like I was never thinking about materials, right? I'll just happen to get back to the hub and go and talk to the guy

and I would have the thing that I would need for that thing to upgrade my weapon to the level that I needed it. Luckily I had it, but if I didn't, I wasn't going to go out and look for it because it just isn't super clear in that way. So I just felt like that was pretty underwhelming of a system. Can I give another a beef I have? Go ahead. And honestly

this is one of those things that's so glaring that I might have missed it. And so let me know if I missed it. Is there not a mini map? There's not it. It's really unfortunate. It's really weird because this is a game that would benefit so much from a mini-maps. I don't think they had mini maps back in their day. Come on now.

Yeah, man, there's so many times. I was constantly just hitting the touchpad to bring up the map. I'm like, why is it just not a fall of the same? I thought I was going crazy. And style minimap, man. It almost feels like just an oversight. Because there's not really a reason for it not to have a mini map for the kind of game, especially when you're doing the side quest of the direction,

like the way in which like the directional stuff works where you open up a map and you know where you need to go, but then you go back to the game and it's like, because it shows you're taking where this time is facing and where the cameras. Yeah. You can't really get a good idea of like, okay, what? Like step this way. It's like, okay, that's the direction. I'm going to, yeah.

Yeah, I'm right there with you like on everything you're saying where it's like the crafting stuff to me definitely just like felt. Like it didn't fully make sense and it didn't feel like I understood what I was doing to benefit. But I also think going to the side quest, like I said, I did every single side quest in this game. Y'all, for you talking about video games before. I normally don't do that. I loved how simple. So many of them were.

A lot of it is, hey, take thing A to place B and you get a little cutscene. I loved how quick and digestible they are. And I feel like they did such a good job of making Clive feel like part of a world that you're getting to know little by little. that after pushing through like the first 10 or so, I'm kind of like, oh, this is all that they're going to be. That's weird. By the time I did like 30 of them

and I'm getting even better relationships with these characters, by the end of the game, I'm like, I'm so happy I did every single side quest. Like it felt so rewarding and getting every single thing, even it was a dumb little task. It felt like the right thing to do as opposed to like, here's a mini game that you don't actually want to play. It's like, cool, let's just keep it in the world.

You always understand exactly what you're trying to do and it felt authentic to Clive and his experience. But doing the side quests got me better weapons than the crafting ever would, so I never even needed to touch the crafting. Like just doing the side quests, like kind of allows you, it almost feels like that's the way the game is designed. Both from a story perspective and from a progression perspective with your equipment and gear,

I really feel like the side quests are like important and way more valuable to do than trying to craft things and go out and get the stuff, which is weird to have that there. Yeah, that's why I kind of feel like I wish it was just done a completely different way. Or it just pulled you straight up like this is the reward you'll get.

This is where you'll get it. Do this side quest or do this hunt and that you'll get it. Oh, shout out to the hunts though. Oh, the hunts. I love it. I love it so much. Yeah.

We should explain what the hunts are. So hunters essentially there's like high target value, high value targets out there and their enemies and the side quests are very, hey, here's, the quest, little blinkers are going to pop

up, waypoints, you're going to go to them, you know exactly what you're doing. The hunts are more like, here's a semi-vague explanation of who this dude is or beast is or whatever and where they might be, and then you can kind of look at the map and get an idea. You need to go find it, and it really, I think, rewards you to explore the map.

The only thing in the game that makes you explore the map. But I have a great time doing that. Then you find these things, and they are way more challenging than normal bad guys. He's spot like mini-boss fights. Those S-rank hunts? Oh my God. Dude, I accidentally ran into it. I was looking for like a B rank hunt.

And my map wasn't all the way uncovered. And so I was like, okay, it's telling me to go to this place. I don't see this place on my map. I'm going to go this direction because I haven't uncovered this part. So I go that direction. I start to go down this path. And I'm like, oh, man, this is like a big lead-up to this mini boss about to fight. And then I get there and it's this fucking S-rank that's level 50.

I'm like level-massive dragon. I know which one you're talking about. And I'm like, oh, shit, here we go. That's good. Legit for a second, I was like, oh, maybe I can throw hands. And then it did like two of his moves. And I was like, I'm out of here. Swang that tail on.

You'll be back, though. Oh, yeah. I'll be back. You know, like that's, you get your new abilities and stuff. And you just, you want to go back and you make that mental note. And then once you see them once, they do pop up on your map. So it's like, oh, I know where you are. Did all those, all the hunts were great, like the S rank ones.

I think. So it's kind of the going back to the crafting system because of the hunts are so important to get the materials necessary. I was always able to. get the best gear and the moment that they popped up at the blacksmith. And I, then that's because I, every time I saw a side quest, I did it.

Every time I saw a new hunt on the board, I did it also. So I ended up having the things that you needed to get those things. I just wish that the game was a little bit more explicit about telling you, it's like, like I said, how to get that. Emphasizing that those things are important if you want the thing.

Because I like, I had the best sword, I had the best belt, best, everything, because I ran into the, them by happenstance rather than being like, oh, okay, I'm going to farm here or whatever. So, yeah.

Speaking of farming and stuff, I love that this game, the bloat is just not there. All the Final Fantasy kind of the lulls, the normal things you have to do. It's just kind of like, no, man, they really, I love that there's not boxes everywhere that you need to kind of like break open hoping there's some gill in it or something. It's like you're just, you're running around. You know exactly where treasure is because it's very clear. You get it. There's two gill.

Thanks for nothing. Yeah. I just feel like there's just a, like I complained a lot in 15 and especially in 7 that there'd be a box and you're trying to get it and the prompt for hit X will pop up. And it's like you can never just quite get it right. Every time you open a treasure chest, it requires you to hit X three times instead of one and multiply that over 100 hours. It's like, oh my Lord, this game just doesn't have that. This game just like it, because it's designed in the way that it is, I feel like it's so many little quality of life stuff. that just kind of make it this like amazing experience.

Yeah, very focused, very focused. And I'm a big linear fan. This is a very linear game. Very linear game. Until there's moments where you realize how opening connected it actually is, like through some of the side quests and through like, wait a minute. Like, because you didn't fast travel from the beginning, right?

And so when you're fast traveling, you don't really realize the relation of the places. The more you start playing, when you're fast travel somewhere, and then you take a left and you're like, oh wait, that connects to that place. And you're like, holy crap. all these linear things actually connect, that stuff really blew my mind.

Yeah. Oh, that's the, I'm right there with you. A miny map looks so good. One of the, the map, just like, I mean, tilt ship.

The map. During the demo, we didn't have a whole lot of, oh yeah, yeah, not minimap. During the demo, there wasn't a whole lot of way, like,

you'd open up the map and not a whole lot of is uncovered, but like being able to see the tiny little versions of these gigantic mother crystals that are massive in the real world, but they're a little tiny and cute here. Like,

I just, I love. I love the visuals. The UI in general, I think, looks fantastic. It is probably one of my favorite looking UIs. I mean, I'm sure there's things about navigating it that could be better, but when you get, when you finish a battle and it, like, gives you the result screen, and it does all the cool transitions and fades and all this.

I think it looks spectacular. I'm going to go a bit against that. And I know that, you know, this is kind of the, this seems like the Final Fantasy that a lot of people hate in the line and being like, it's not Final Fantasy enough, right? I feel like one extra thing they could have changed in here it's just sometimes that

hey Tim Getty slained that screen can sometimes underscore the moment for me Oh sure yeah Not every time Like there are sometimes where I don't mind seeing that Then XP And then XP XP items

I don't hate it every time But there are sometimes I'm like I kind of wish that like this cutscene would just end And as the game continues you see what I just got from this battle. I just don't always love that screen kind of like, sometimes spoiling the end of a fight as well. Let's talk later.

I got some dots on this day. I don't want to say right now. Slade this guy. I've been hunting for 20 years and it's like, oh, but I got XP in some crafting materials. Yeah, yeah. I just like how it looks on just the graphic design. Oh, it looks great.

But yeah, I think there are things about it that could even be like real time because it does pause the action. I don't mind it as much, but I understand what you're saying. Yeah, like, you know, I don't. I don't hate it 100% of the time. There is a lot of cool moments where it pauses in that perfect moment and your character's doing something. I'm even talking about the pause screen too of like when you go to the different menus and just like how everything's laid out and how it looks visually. I just really like how to you like to shift around Clive too.

Yeah. You swap the menus. And I noticed it. I noticed that I wasn't the only one necessarily feeling that way because when we were watching Stonebike Mike do the demo with Ben, the voice of Clive. during that initial icon fight it goes whatever slain and Mike goes

oh it's over and it's like yeah it kind of tells you that it's over like you did it even though there was still like some health bar left so I just I don't hate it all the time

it's just some moments that it kind of bones me out and I really can't wait for when this game eventually comes to PC and gets a mod because like in here's of the kingdom you can download a mod

that removes the Zelda telling you every time that a blood moon rises. And it just removes that interruption every time. It doesn't play the video. It just goes on. I would love to get a mod that removes every time I accept the side quest. And Clive stands there and... Do you want to prioritize this?

But I do want to prioritize it. It's like, homie. I'm so tired of just that little cutscene that only lasts two seconds, but you've seen it enough. And it's like, come on, man, just give them fucking. My biggest nitpicker of the game, like, for sure, is the lack of pure button customization. I don't understand for a game like this, how you have to choose between a couple control types. And none of the control types are exactly what I want them to be.

I do have the dual sense edge. That was a lifesaver able to customize that way. And it was great. But even beyond that, though, the different icon abilities, essentially you have your square and triangle that you can remap however you want. And what I appreciate about it is they really let you remap those however you want, even if it doesn't make sense. You might have, I'm just going to use vague terms here, blue guy powers, but you can map yellow guy powers to the face buttons even for your blue guy power set, which is very cool. Like let's say you have to master them. You don't, yeah, yeah.

You don't want to have yellow guy triangle power, but you really like blue guy power so much that you want it twice on blue guy. yellow guy. You can map that. The circle ability that each of the colored guys has, the one, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just because he got it's okay. It's 2023. Yeah. God damn. You know what you mean. You know what you're talking to. Three of what you're saying. The circle button is like a different ability that is less of an attack, more of a like the first one you have is the Phoenix shift. A utility thing where my dodge. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're a essentially dodge you like kind of like move forward it's a momentum dash yeah dash is the right word it's a dash and some of the other icons have a dash ability and then some of them just straight up don't

yeah and you cannot remap that circle ability and if it were up to me i would just keep the dash for all of them because i don't like the other ones and there are a certain other one whatever whatever don't want to get too much into shit but like there are certain ones that i'm like i like your power set overall but i do not like your circle ability i like that level of i got to choose like i got I really customize and figure it out. Because that's where I was in like the last 10 hours of the game where I sat in my skill tree and was just like, all right, which of my moves? Like, first of all, I reset all my points because you can do that at any point. So good.

It's fantastic because I was like, oh, fuck, I really want this ability. And I was like, wait a second. I can. I can have that. I just got to reset my ability. So it's a nice quality of life. No penalty at all. Super nice quality of life.

Reset your attributes at any moment. And I did that. And I sat there and I was like, all right, which of my abilities am I going to master so that I can have this equipped to like, this specific icon set so that I can use this move with this icon while having this utility ability. And that rhymes a really weird way. And like I found such a satisfying move set towards the end of the game where I perfected it.

And like I had to give up some things. But I enjoyed that as part of the experience of customized my move set. Because at the end of the day, once I got it to where I wanted to be, I felt unstoppable in a really cool way. And it really personified. the icons themselves, like, oh, you have to equip this ability. Like, you have to stick with that circle feet.

And when I have those icons equipped, like, oh, that icon has got my back. I have their power. So I'm going to do this fight with them at my back. And it kind of makes up for the fact that you don't have a party. And it definitely gives you, like, oh, I can, like an Octopat Traveler, too, I love the level of customization. Yeah, your dog. What's up? Yeah, your dog.

Shots my boy, Torgle. Horrible. Oh, Torrigal. Yeah. I have a total use your product. I was like, my dog's like, we don't got a dog. We're not allowed to have dogs at our apartment. But yeah, the way those, the icons and Torgle, like, makes up for the fact that you don't have a party

and gives you that level of RPG customization that you might be looking for in this game. So it's not straight up action. And I appreciate how it evolves over time because I, one of my nitpicks early on that fell away was in combat, I would get into the flow of, all right, let's spend all these abilities because all the, them are on to cool down. And so I like, you know, I go up. I press, um, was it R2? R2? Yeah, R2 triangle, R2 square. Switch icon R2 triangle R2 square. All right, let's hack until it cools down. Once you get further in the game and you start to get the other utility abilities, the way that can evolve, because it starts off with Phoenix Shift, right? And like,

of course, I'm not going to spoil anything. But the ways, like, it starts off of Phoenix shift. The second one you get is like kind of similar to Phoenix Shift in the way that like closes distance. From there, they get really creative with what those things can do. And yeah, like, the last few I got, I was like, dude, this is awesome because now I'm fighting in a completely different way than I was before. I know I'm like, you know, maybe a third or halfway through, but I loved the evolutions that I've seen in the most recent icon fight from how it has completely like changed and elevated itself from the first couple. Yeah. Because the first couple, beautiful to look at, stunning, expensive looking.

We're talking visuals that you've never seen in your life in a video game. And the gameplay, pretty bleh, pretty mid. But I think that now that I'm about a couple more deep into it, they are getting much more involved now, and they feel a lot more fun than they did at the beginning. So I know there's a lot of people that are like, oh, these look cool, but they're kind of like not fun to play. They got more fun for me as they keep on going.

To that point, too, like everything that we were saying, earlier. I think last year was saying that like in the beginning of the game, it's so simple. Like it is just kind of hit square. And even with the icon ability, it's like once you get a couple, you are just kind of cycling through these moves. Like, all right, like, where's the depth here? Then all of a sudden, oh, there's the depth. And it doesn't stop and it keeps getting deeper. I can't believe the icon battles. It's the same thing. Like the first when you, the demo that people have played, it's like, those icon fights, it's like, all right. Like, they're cool, but like everyone's going to be a kind of different gimmick. And sure, I get it. You don't get it.

It's exactly like the combat. They ain't seen. Nothing yet. It just keeps adding and it keeps like building from a gameplay perspective where it's like, oh, okay. I see what y'all were doing. And I just am so impressed that this game in every single vertical, whether it's the characters, the story, the gameplay of icons, the gameplay of just normal battle, it just gets better as it goes on. And it's like anytime I'm kind of like, huh, I feel like it's a little lacking in the antagonist

or a little lacking into this or a little like it. They said bet. They were like, oh, yeah, hold on. walk. It's delivered. I want to shout out a few more things. The performances are fantastic. Shout out to my favorite character, Sid.

Like his performance, Ralph absolutely destroys it. And, like, God, his voice is so goddamn good. But then also shout out to the homie Ben Starr is Clive. You know, Clive at the beginning. And we talked about this on shows before where it's like, okay, like this guy, I mean, he seems all right, but he's no cloud. Like, oh, his name's Clive. Okay, let's see what this is.

And in the beginning, I was like, all right. Like, you know, he's a manly, rough dude, and over time, like, the way in which they evolve his character, his motivations, all that. But even the performance that Ben puts into the character, I think, shines through. And in moments where it is, Clive has to be emotional. And the way in which they actually deliver on that, right? And Ben's performance delivers on that, I think is fantastic and something that should be commended.

Like, I really hope to see, like, end of year stuff happen for him and his character. Oh, it will. Like, we were talking about this. This game's going to win best narrative. I don't think that there's even a chance that it doesn't. And I think that when it comes to performance is like, my God, like anyone in this game, I feel like you could put there. But talking about Clive in particular, I love how grounded.

Like I feel like we keep talking about this where it's like this game is as wacky and wild as it can get. It all comes back to these characters, these grounded real characters that relate to each other in real ways that we can understand. That all goes back to Clive. And I feel like all the little side quests endearing yourself to these communities, learning the stories, learning the stories of different characters and how it relates to him. He is what I love most about Optimus Prime. He is a loyal leader that he's going to be out there

in these things. He's my savior. But no, it's like, it's this thing where it's just like, he's just a good dude. And that can be a boring character or it can be an incredibly well-developed character. And because the writing is so good and the performances are good, it's that.

It is the ladder there. It is such a, like, there is goodness there. And I feel like it is a true hero character. It reminds me of like a Gerald almost, right? Like the way that he will take to Gerald and actually like how iconic that character feels in an RPG culture, I guess, right? Clive feels like another one of those where it's like, oh, I'm going to remember this guy because his interactions that he has with the everyday people of this world feel genuine. And he is like, he's just so well-written and well-performed in a way where I'm like, I just really like this guy. He's on the level for me of Arthur Morgan and Red Dead too.

Oh, sure, yeah. I think it starts off in a very sort of, you know, quiet dude, kind of not a whole lot of personality, but through the experiences that he's having, you start to feel for him a lot more, and you also start to notice the nuances and different emotions that he showcases. And it's always like, you know, he has his shell over him because he's so protective of who he is. And I think all that stuff opens up in such a beautiful way. And it's so, again, incredibly performed and through these cutscenes, just greatly animated with the mixture of the mocap stuff with kind of them do, you know,

the animators have to go in there and retouch a lot of these things. I think they do a phenomenal job with it. One thing that Final Fantasy is known for is its main cast of characters, like the party, right? And it's like there's usually the main character, maybe sometimes two main characters, and then there's like the core supporting cast. And then there's side characters, the NPR. that are just around the people in the towns or whatever it is. I feel like with this game, the Clive being the like singular main character and how much they put into that and how everything

else is just happening to and around him. By the end of the game, I feel like like, I mean, I love Sid so much. It's my god. Jill, I love overall, but I do feel like I wish she had like a little bit more to do here and there. But at the end of the game, I can't believe that the real stars of the show to me are those NPC characters. It is the entire... Dude, who the hell would have thought that like these random

little side characters would mean anything but the writing, the quest lines are so impressive when you follow them through to the end of the character arcs and growth that these characters that when they first show up you're like oh you might not even have a line but then by the end of it you're like I watched

you in probably an hour and a half sort of cut scenes and like I am moved by your story and how your story relates to everyone else's story. Like it feels almost like the persona confident links without formalizing it in a way. Because those are, those side quests are chains too. Like they,

they, if you, you have to do the one before that to get to the next one. You don't, yeah, it doesn't gamify that. I mean, sometimes it'll mark the same quest name with like a two or three or four.

And so you know that that's a continuation of what you've already done. And having seen all that, all that stuff through, I'm like, oh, like Karen is one of, my God, my girl Karen.

Yo. Shout to Karen. Oh my God, yeah, she's a real one. She's one of the realest ones. I think it'll be a redemption for the name, Karen. It's spelled differently. It's like C.H. The C.H.

Who would have saw that coming? Yeah. But, yeah, I do. He's like the opposite of a character. Yeah, she's a badass, bro. Holy shit. She's the one who sells you everything. Some of my favorite characters, we can't even talk about here.

Yeah. Oh, well, yeah. But yeah, across the board, I think the main castes, who will I identify with the most. and I mean I you can mention like because I mean they've been the promotional material they have all of the dominance right like Dion I think is one of the I'm not going to say underrated because the game hasn't even come out yet right but he is I love him dearly not enough people talking about this Dion guy you know what I'm saying Dion keep keep an eye on he's a rising star he's uh he's he's up there uh get him off waivers

Dion is, like, he's one of the characters who isn't necessarily prominent because his role in the story is, you have to get a little bit deeper to see who he is, but I think that his evolution, his arc is very powerful as well. and that's because of the performance that's because of the position that he's put in. It goes back to that theme of what do these characters do when they're pushed to the edge when their humanity is on the line? What really matters to them most? How do they find redemption after seeing all this bad shit happen?

And so it's a combination of the writing, the performances, and just the arcs that they go through. And I think that is the thing that's going to stick out most for me with 16. And I think the boss battles are fucking incredible. They're really well designed. I mean, playing a lot of Final Fantasy 14. I see, I see the mechanics.

I see what are y'all doing? I've Savage Raid. I know how to dodge those AEOs, but damn does it feel good when you're doing a stylish action game. So I'll remember those moments for sure. Like some of my, ooh, Dodge, getting the perfect dodges. You, I racked up like 12 perfect dodges on a big-ass dragon.

Y'all can't fuck with me, man. This is in, like, an action RPG, but I am going into the challenge stuff like it is just a pure stylish action game. I'm going for the scores and enjoying that stuff. Like that's such an achievement for this game. And yeah, like the bosses are so good. And at the end of the day, this game has heart.

So much. That's what matters most in a final fantasy. Amen. We're going to be talking about this game a lot. I have a feeling over the rest of this year and probably for the rest of our lives. I will say, Andy, I said this to you before, I need you to record you playing like the last three, four hours of this game because I need to relive it. It is something that is, I've never seen.

before. The last couple hours of this game are just so, so damn good. I have a lot more to go. You have a lot more hype moments in between too. Again, it's not even just hype. It is hard. It is so much just coming together to really accomplish the vision that

they sit out for. So let us know in the comments below how excited you are for Final Fantasy 16. Michael, where can people find you? You could find me and all of my bullshit at Michael P. Higham on Twitter, and you can check out my full written review on GAMSpot.com for Final Fantasy16 and check out the video review on our YouTube page as well.

To next time. Love Bill. Bye. Peace.