They lost me with XIII. I loved XII, but 13 was a grindy, overwrought, boring mess.

Yeahs it’s shitty. Some companies really go all in on “kickstarter only” shit. I stopped buying games from companies that do that shit. I don’t fault small companies for using kickstarter but limiting content for kickstarter only is bullshit 

DARKNESS, NO PARENTS!!!!

It described an early environment as “corridors of connecting fights.” That sure sounds like FFXIII to me

pretty sure those are skin-colored leggings

There is a difference though in how its paced. Ffxiii put you in positions where winning could be extremely frustrating if you werent at the right level. In other ff games it was always easy to backtrack, gear or level up, wander around a bit, and then come back. Xiii didnt allow any of that until it opened up…

On the one hand...yeah I wasn’t a fan of the Arpg elements of the later Kingdom Hearts games or XV. I absolutely prefer the turn base stuff (hence why I’m enjoying Honkai: Star Rails more than Genshin Impact)

But on the other hand: Goddamn does FF need to get away from Nomura’s Hot Topic influence over every Final…

Welp, that sucks.

I’m down for the action combat, it was one of XV’s best features. And considering how XV’s world was so empty and pointless, I’m OK with them narrowing the scope.

I gave up on FF a while ago so my opinion doesn’t matter BUT XII’s combat was everything I needed in an FF game, but they dropped it like a hot potato immediately. It allowed strategy and intelligence to factor in for how you created rulesets, which also helped to turn the grind of FF into an exercise in optimization,…

Whereas I noped right out of the 7R and SoP demos, because of the combat. Just didn’t enjoy it at all, nor could I get a hang of it really.

“At least Balthier was a great character.”

It’s truly remarkable the more I learn about the game, the more I’m put off by it. (It’s not a knock against the game per se—I’m just marveling how each update manages to introduce new features that are not to my taste at all. I long for turn-based FF of old.)

I refused to play XII for fifteen years because I was put off by the concept of real time battles and the gambit system. After finding myself enjoying the combat of FF7R so much, I gave XII a try. I’m glad I did because I absolutely loved the gambit system. It’s a good thing too, because the story of XII was a total…

If that’s what you take out of people reminiscing about the older FFs, you’re missing the point. It’s a completely different style of game from a turn-based or semi-turned-based game (ATB nuances aside) into an action RPG. That’s fine, it can be whatever they want it to be. It’s just not the same for me and hasn’t for…

Even ATB is still a completely different gameplay feel and experience than an action RPG, so I get why people who are long time fans are wary. And I’m saying this as someone who’s relatively excited for FFXVI.

Last main-series single player FF* I played and enjoyed was FFXII. Gave 13 and 15 a hard pass, and it looks like I’ll be doing the same with this one.

*(XIV can be great, but it’s a very different beast)

What even is left to make this Final Fantasy? Ethers and Phoenix Down?

Sexy eye of Sauron is certainly something I’d never considered before.

What a missed opportunity.