Played the demo and I have gotta say, this is a very good game. Let's start with the positives:
- The game is is beautiful. Not the best looking game out there, and outside the cutscenes NPCs can look weird at times, but beautiful nonetheless.
- The story is shaping up to be the strongest aspect of the game. Very well told,. and is really intriging. Its really well written too, I just don't get where this is better written than previous FF games(As some suggested), and FF 7 Remake was well written as well as this game(Actually prefer that game in this regard)
- The combat system is also really good. Its not fantastic by any means(Again, FF 7 Remake combat system is miles better and the best new combat system in 10 years), but its surprisingly fun. One gripe though is the completely unnecessary QTEs. I get it, they are flashy anmd nice to see, but they are braindead easy, and honestly just gives you a free hit, which further adds the credence that the game may be too easy. QTE for enviroment prompts is especially dumb.
Now for the negatives:
- Minor gripes: The game has no mana system or something that limits how many times you can use your abilities. That may be not be an issue through the game, but at least for now I fear that this may kind of make normal attacks redundant when you can simply spam abilities, since they are far stronger and run simply on a cooldown. My other gripe is that this game may be too easy, as potions are VERY plentiful.(And I heard someone say that even boss has checkpoints in them). And one thing that bothers me: Its fine with potions having a limit on how many you can carry them, but not having a stash that you can keep them, and any surplus you get is used instantly just rubs my survival horror instincts the wrong way lol.
- It seems that there is no map, at least early on, which brings me to my first major gripe: I think exploration will be very light in this game. And for a JRPG, FF especially, that tends to be a very negative thing. Plus, devs said this game was meant to be more of a joy ride, so it further adds credance that this won't have much exploration in it.
- The tone does not fit FF at all. Not one bit. People cursing, GOT-esque style, blood and (implied) decapitations. I don't know, maybe its just me that has quite enough of that type of media this past 5 to 10 years, but I very much prefer the way that FF tells its stories. And while this is not bad, its just not the excellence that is expected out of FF.
- The setting is also in that realm of "not bad, but not memorable at all". Don't get me wrong, I like this "generic" fantasy setting for the right game, but when it comes to FF and the multiple games that simply had much more interesting setting, presentations, and vistas, XVI just ends up being unremarkable.
- The Eikon battle are great eye candies, but that's it honestly. They are fun, they were fun in the demo, but I feel like they would be better off just being a well made cutscene. They are stupidly easy, and they may feed into the felling of the game playing tiself for you, being too easy and all that.
All in all, I think this will be a great game. Which just makes me be dissapointed in Square even more. Why call this a Final Fantasy game? This would have been an EXTREMELY solid first entry for a new IP. Hell, this is what Forspoken should have been. It would have probably kickstarted a whole new franchise for Square. And not only nobody would have had an issue with it, bypassing the whole controversy, but everyone would have been hyped for an exciting new IP. But as a FF game, not only it unnecessarily divides the fanbase even further, but also it will be innevitably compared to previous entries(legendary games), and it will fall short of them.
Its just a stupid situation that Square put themselves in. Like I said, this should review at least around the 83 metacritic, and the demo has convinced me to buy this at a deep discount, but this is no FF. At this point Square doesn't know what they want FF to be, and its just sad to see them squander a historic franchise and a new IP in one fell swoop.