Why do people on reddit think Final Fantasy XVI is bad?

[Bigboss PC Faster]

or reddit just being reddit?

[Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC]

Because its Reddit. Any gaming subreddit is 98% complaints.

[Guybrush]

Honesty

[swashberry]

It's not the kind of game that they already know they like and they're unwilling to try anything new, so instead they're trying to make you feel bad for liking it.

Same as the people who keep baselessly comparing it to Game of Thrones: GoT is their only frame of reference for fantasy fiction, so they compare everything to that and when they don't see Game of Thrones they just accuse it of being a "bad" Game of Thrones ripoff. They haven't read any other books, watched any other shows, they are completely, tragically ignorant of the staggering amount of depth and nuance to the fantasy genre, as they are with video games as a medium. Their brains just work on the false dichotomy of "everything is either Game of Thrones grimdark or it's happy-go-lucky slop."

Just ignore them. Soon enough they will tire and go find something else to ♥♥♥♥♥ about, and they will forever wonder why no one ever seems to enjoy their company, because they can not see that they are the problem.

[Foulcher]

Not only Reddit
On many forums it’s labeled as missable and quickly forgotten

And that’s true, even FFXV had more aura and coverage.

I did not play it for now (preordered) but the DLCs releases were barely covered by press.

[decizion]

Reddit is way too popular and by definition has become a cesspool refuge of mentally ill or low IQ people.

[Chacheya1G]

Originally posted by Bigboss PC Faster:

or reddit just being reddit?

Bad? Not really, but its mid af (no pun with certain character name intended)

[mochimitsu7]

Not only Reddit. As an avid FF fan, I can confirm the game is terrible. In my opinion (you might differ) this is the worst single player Final Fantasy game in decades. And I thought XIII and XV were awful, but XVI takes the cherry off the cake.

Answering your question is going to be tough without major spoilers, so I'll just say this: outdated design, incomprehensible plot, weak protagonist, pathetic villain, shallow combat, no progression at all, bad map design, bad quest design, and the list goes on. It's like if Senua's Sacrifice had DmC combat. Worth checking out for cheap and if you like punching your way through the end of the game, skipping all cutscenes. Otherwise, avoid it.

Do you want a better real Final Fantasy/RPG experience? Play Baldur's Gate 3 or anything Larian Studios make, and support a studio who does care about their product with passion. They actually deserve your money and attention.

[Kashra Fall]

People said the same thing about strangers of paradise and I enjoyed that game immensely. You like what you like and players unfortunately create this idea that they know what a game is supposed to within the formed genre. When it doesn't hit those markers, it bothers them. Enjoy it for what it is, or don't. I tried the demo and enjoyed it, so it got a purchase out of me at the start of sept.

[Shados]

It's a different genre. People who like the genre may not think to look for it into a Final Fantasy game. People who are into the other type of Final Fantasy were disapointed.

If you understand what you expect and its your thing, this game is likely to be a blast.

[MJAndre]

Originally posted by mochimitsu7:

Not only Reddit. As an avid FF fan, I can confirm the game is terrible. In my opinion (you might differ) this is the worst single player Final Fantasy game in decades. And I thought XIII and XV were awful, but XVI takes the cherry off the cake.

Answering your question is going to be tough without major spoilers, so I'll just say this: outdated design, incomprehensible plot, weak protagonist, pathetic villain, shallow combat, no progression at all, bad map design, bad quest design, and the list goes on. It's like if Senua's Sacrifice had DmC combat. Worth checking out for cheap and if you like punching your way through the end of the game, skipping all cutscenes. Otherwise, avoid it.

Do you want a better real Final Fantasy/RPG experience? Play Baldur's Gate 3 or anything Larian Studios make, and support a studio who does care about their product with passion. They actually deserve your money and attention.

You can "confirm"? Wasn't aware subjective opinions were objective fact.
Meanwhile, the literal Father of the entire Final Fantasy franchise... Loves FFXVI. Loves it.
If you bother to check @auuo on Twitter/X (Sakaguchi himself), he openly stated that XVI is everything he wanted to do but couldn't with the tech at the time.

"Incomprehensible plot"? Look, it's okay to just admit it went over your head. It's fine, admit it. You didn't get it. That doesn't make it "incomprehensible".
In fact, plenty of people got it just fine. You seem to just have the attention span of a bar of soap.

Also, comparing this to *Senua's Sacrifice* is absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hilarious. Hellblade's a steaming pile of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ compared to this peak narrative.

[$OULJA $TRIFE]

Many of these forums are hoarded with people who have fossil mentality’s, as in if it’s not like the thing they liked growing up it’s bad. That’s all really, I mean a huge “critique” of this game from the loud and wrong seems to be the lack of “builds” when the game literally has 40+ abilities, 6 you can have on you at all times separated by 8 different Eikon feats that are customizable to your liking. By definition that’s hundred of different combinations.

Gamers especially have a huge sheep mentality.

[MJAndre]

Originally posted by mochimitsu7:

Not only Reddit. As an avid FF fan, I can confirm the game is terrible. In my opinion (you might differ) this is the worst single player Final Fantasy game in decades. And I thought XIII and XV were awful, but XVI takes the cherry off the cake.

Answering your question is going to be tough without major spoilers, so I'll just say this: outdated design, incomprehensible plot, weak protagonist, pathetic villain, shallow combat, no progression at all, bad map design, bad quest design, and the list goes on. It's like if Senua's Sacrifice had DmC combat. Worth checking out for cheap and if you like punching your way through the end of the game, skipping all cutscenes. Otherwise, avoid it.

Do you want a better real Final Fantasy/RPG experience? Play Baldur's Gate 3 or anything Larian Studios make, and support a studio who does care about their product with passion. They actually deserve your money and attention.

Also, juuuuust in case you're incapable of believing documented fact;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkOzdCSaZ4

https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/comments/15qp7ai/hironobu_sakaguchi_the_creator_of_final_fantasy/?rdt=65272

https://x.com/auuo/status/1690984922398515201

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the Creator of Final Fantasy, absolutely adores FFXVI.

[Foulcher]

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

People said the same thing about strangers of paradise and I enjoyed that game immensely. You like what you like and players unfortunately create this idea that they know what a game is supposed to within the formed genre. When it doesn't hit those markers, it bothers them. Enjoy it for what it is, or don't. I tried the demo and enjoyed it, so it got a purchase out of me at the start of sept.

I liked SoP somewhat (especially the convoluted weird and off-beat story) but it was a cheap game with many cheap design issues and a distastrous optimization.

Hopefully it was not a main FF but nobody can deny that FF releases are less and less impactful and memorable. They used to be AAAA and a new FF was a major event spoken for years.

[MJAndre]

Originally posted by Foulcher:

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

People said the same thing about strangers of paradise and I enjoyed that game immensely. You like what you like and players unfortunately create this idea that they know what a game is supposed to within the formed genre. When it doesn't hit those markers, it bothers them. Enjoy it for what it is, or don't. I tried the demo and enjoyed it, so it got a purchase out of me at the start of sept.

I liked SoP somewhat (especially the convoluted weird and off-beat story) but it was a cheap game with many cheap design issues and a distastrous optimization.

Hopefully it was not a main FF but nobody can deny that FF releases are less and less impactful and memorable.

...What was "convoluted" about a literal FF1 prequel starring Garland (FF1's villain) as the protagonist/anti-hero?
It's hitting the exact same story beats as FF1 (Sakaguchi himself has confirmed this), and FF1 is *a thousand-year time loop*.
Time travel and "multi-dimensional" stuff in Final Fantasy didn't start with FFXIII-2 or even Kingdom Hearts. It was all over FF1 and FF5.

[mochimitsu7]

Originally posted by MJAndre:

Originally posted by mochimitsu7:

Not only Reddit. As an avid FF fan, I can confirm the game is terrible. In my opinion (you might differ) this is the worst single player Final Fantasy game in decades. And I thought XIII and XV were awful, but XVI takes the cherry off the cake.

Answering your question is going to be tough without major spoilers, so I'll just say this: outdated design, incomprehensible plot, weak protagonist, pathetic villain, shallow combat, no progression at all, bad map design, bad quest design, and the list goes on. It's like if Senua's Sacrifice had DmC combat. Worth checking out for cheap and if you like punching your way through the end of the game, skipping all cutscenes. Otherwise, avoid it.

Do you want a better real Final Fantasy/RPG experience? Play Baldur's Gate 3 or anything Larian Studios make, and support a studio who does care about their product with passion. They actually deserve your money and attention.

You can "confirm"? Wasn't aware subjective opinions were objective fact.
Meanwhile, the literal Father of the entire Final Fantasy franchise... Loves FFXVI. Loves it.
If you bother to check @auuo on Twitter/X (Sakaguchi himself), he openly stated that XVI is everything he wanted to do but couldn't with the tech at the time.

"Incomprehensible plot"? Look, it's okay to just admit it went over your head. It's fine, admit it. You didn't get it. That doesn't make it "incomprehensible".
In fact, plenty of people got it just fine. You seem to just have the attention span of a bar of soap.

Wasn't Sakaguchi responsible for the downfall of Squaresoft as a studio in the first place? I love him as much as the next guy, but his word doesn't give the game more validity than mine, especially when we know how biased creators are toward each other. They rarely criticize what must be criticized.

The plot is incomprehensible and there is no cohesion. Give me in 1 sentence what the story is about, and you will be unable to say it, because there are at the very least 3 or 4 plots mixed together that don't make any sense. Not to mention that they ditch plot after plot for the bad guy's final confrontation, totally ditching away all the setup of the game from the first act.

There is no way in my mind how someone can see that story or game and think it is remotely any good. Is there good in the game? Sure, it's not the worst game ever either. But that doesn't justify any one else defending it avidly.

Yes, you like it, that's great, congratulations. I wished I enjoyed it as much as you did, but I didn't. And I haven't enjoyed a single player Final Fantasy since XII, and that game was released in what? 18 years ago? You can like something an see its flaws. It is in fact (not an opinion, mind you) a linear game, full of scenes that interrupt gameplay which ditches plots in favor of others, and that makes it an incomprehensible mess.