Disgusting amount of cutscenes

[evoCap]

Who is this for? What little actual gameplay I experienced in my one hour of "play" time couldn't be described as Final Fantasy OR a good action game. Just a cinematic button masher, reminiscent of all the genshin-like shovelware getting cranked out on mobile devices.

Whoever directed this should be ashamed of themselves

[Gibbs]

Publicado originalmente por Unmotivated:

Whatever you say mate. Enjoy your cinematic experience i guess.

I haven't given an opinion or made an argument either way. I've only pointed out factually wrong things that you said. Everything else you've gotten from my posts is you projecting things onto me.

[Xengre]

Publicado originalmente por Unmotivated:

Publicado originalmente por Gibbs:

That's fine, but it's not true that there was "so much more watching than playing". It's also not true that this isn't a game.

Whatever you say mate. Enjoy your cinematic experience i guess. Not my thing honestly, i prefer games that don't rip me out of the combat to show me cutscenes that are just extended conversations and nothing important. I prefer interaction over that.

But they're right and you're wrong though?

I just looked it up. The game has 11 hours of cutscenes and is typically a 37-60 hour game.

You're acting like this game is doing something unusual but uh... BREAKING NEWS: JRPG Game has lots of cutscenes and story!! Sorry, this isn't news and it isn't new for JRPGs. Maybe the pacing is a bit slow early on and you don't like that but you're judging, literally, the entire game unreasonably based on it. If you prefer interaction it sounds like JRPGs, in general, are not your cup of tea.

Actually, having just checked your play history JRPGs definitely are NOT your cup of tea since you can't finish any Final Fantasy you've owned and tend to have multiple years between barely touching them on achievements. However, I do get why you checked this game out considering your tastes because you probably thought it would turn out more action gameplay oriented. Might I recommend, since I didn't see it in your history, checking the Ys franchise? They have a number of action oriented games of your type of preference (granted, it doesn't guarantee you will like them) so if you like one it means you will have several potential games to try out next.

A quick link just to get you started https://store.steampowered.com/app/579180/Ys_VIII_Lacrimosa_of_DANA/

Personally, I'm a fan of the older 2.5D styled ones, myself, but you can play them in any order as all but one follow the same main character (Origin is the one that stands alone), adventurer Adol the Red, on his journeys each taking a different mostly unconnected (bar some loose references/reoccurring characters at times) tales. It has some story but is mostly lore and gameplay first like Elden Rings/Souls games.

[Unmotivated]

Publicado originalmente por Xengre:

Publicado originalmente por Unmotivated:

Whatever you say mate. Enjoy your cinematic experience i guess. Not my thing honestly, i prefer games that don't rip me out of the combat to show me cutscenes that are just extended conversations and nothing important. I prefer interaction over that.

But they're right and you're wrong though?

I just looked it up. The game has 11 hours of cutscenes and is typically a 37-60 hour game.

You're acting like this game is doing something unusual but uh... BREAKING NEWS: JRPG Game has lots of cutscenes and story!! Sorry, this isn't news and it isn't new for JRPGs. Maybe the pacing is a bit slow early on and you don't like that but you're judging, literally, the entire game unreasonably based on it. If you prefer interaction it sounds like JRPGs, in general, are not your cup of tea.

Actually, having just checked your play history JRPGs definitely are NOT your cup of tea since you can't finish any Final Fantasy you've owned and tend to have multiple years between barely touching them on achievements. However, I do get why you checked this game out considering your tastes because you probably thought it would turn out more action gameplay oriented. Might I recommend, since I didn't see it in your history, checking the Ys franchise? They have a number of action oriented games of your type of preference (granted, it doesn't guarantee you will like them) so if you like one it means you will have several potential games to try out next.

A quick link just to get you started https://store.steampowered.com/app/579180/Ys_VIII_Lacrimosa_of_DANA/

Personally, I'm a fan of the older 2.5D styled ones, myself, but you can play them in any order as all but one follow the same main character (Origin is the one that stands alone), adventurer Adol the Red, on his journeys each taking a different mostly unconnected (bar some loose references/reoccurring characters at times) tales. It has some story but is mostly lore and gameplay first like Elden Rings/Souls games.

Oh wow, a genuine "it's not for you, here's something better" that doesn't come off as being a total ass. I like that.

Yeah, i'm more of an action gamer, and seeing previews of 16 definitely had me interested as character action games are by far my favorite genre, right behind survival/action horror. Of course, what you looked up was probably a raw cutscene count, not the seemingly back to back walk n talk sessions that preceded nearly every small scale fight. I got about 40 hours in on PS5 and just gave up cuz the density of it over the gameplay wasn't keeping me invested and the sidequests were crap, and this includes the 2 (or 3, if you count the repeat with Ifrit) Eikon battles, which feel basically like interactive cutscenes. I'm not a big fan of style over substance unless it's some stupid arcade ♥♥♥♥ like Gungrave or House of the Dead. I'm not picky with gameplay, i just want there TO BE gameplay.

I'm more than used to ganes with slow openings, and i knew to look beyond the demo on PS5 because of that, but they ended up making fun (albeit simple) gameplay spaced out in a way that feels poorly paced for the story it was trying to tell and if you just want the gameplay, well good luck.

As bored as i was of Tales of Berseria (my longest invested JRPG to date frankly, clock 70 hours on my first playthrough) even that felt like a fun game to play regardless of the story and gave me plenty of time between cutscenes to enjoy said game. Extended dungeons, tons of respawning enemies, the like.

I got bored of that because the mechanics started to drain on me with the Soul system and i wasn't dealing any kind of damage or able to break blocks without oversoul, leading to a stagnant gameplay experience full of tedium. Add onto the fact the story had all but stalled by that point in the game, i just couldn't keep up with it, and by the time i came back several months later, i had to restart due to forgetting the combat system in it's entirety.

I like to give RPGs a try, but they typically hold the flaw of dragging on and not really getting to the point, or having near endless filler in the case of Persona. I think the only Final Fantasy games i ever truly finished were 15 (slog of a game, but i liked the story it was telling.) And Final Fantasy 13. (Because it was linear, mainly.)

I probably should stop trying to play RPGs, but it's not like the games themselves are bad. I like the gameplay, the aesthetics are great and the characters are all amazing. I just can't get over the uninteractive fluff and bloat in between the gameplay sections. It feels typically like only around half of it is actually important to the story, with the rest just being general character interactions. Pretty sure Ys wouldn't be too much different on that front really, although, once again, i want to give it the benefit of the doubt.

I like to think that there IS a JRPG for me somewhere. This just happens to be on the laundry list of ones that aren't it.

[Xengre]

If you don't mind older JRPGs (some of these aren't that old tho, but some are), aside from the mentions Ys... some others you might appreciate are

Radiata Stories (PS2)

Final Fantasy XV (Steam) - this one is potentially more of what you were looking for being overwhelmingly gameplay oriented

Star Ocean franchise are action oriented games, though be warned 5 (is on Steam) and 6 (PS only) are considered pretty bad but maybe you will still like... Star Ocean 3 and 2 are considered the best and the newest one is just okay. They can range from having a decent amount of story to tons of gameplay. Imo, 3 has the best gameplay but it also has a very sizeable amount of puzzle dungeons (think Zelda kind of) and a decent amount of story (but nothing like heavier story JRPGs). Star Ocean The Second Story R is probably the one I would suggest having the best balance of gameplay for you to start with and is on Steam.

Tales of Arise might potentially be okay since you were fairly good with Berseria and, imo, it is a better game. The only issue is the pacing in the final stretch of the game is way off with heavier story dump (those mini-scenes where you press select or whatever to bring up character conversations is the main issue, there are tons of them even back to back but only at that final portion of the game). The combat is way better than Berseria, too. Maybe get on sale though just to be safe or check a review for it first.

Nier Automata might be worth a look.

Avoid Final Fantasy VII Remake. Great game, but not for you and it will encompass the same issues as XVI here, plus the combat isn't truly action but hiding an invisible turn based system at its core with some minor action elements.

I can't pull up your history while typing this but if you haven't tried Code Vein and Scarlet Nexus you may want to give those a go. Think Elden Ring / Dark Souls (more Dark Souls really) with an anime filter for Code Vein. Scarlet Nexus isn't my cup of tea so can't speak of it directly but should be worth looking at considering its positive reception.

Trials of Mana (including the new one coming out) might be worth looking at from what I've seen in the trailers but I've not played to personally fully be certain of that. Worth a look (maybe wait on review).

A classic and may not even be your taste but just in case, Shining Force EXA for PS2.

Avoid the Trails of series like a plague and your arch nemesis Xenosaga (15-30 hours of cutscenes PER game, literally, of which are three games total and that isn't even counting additional non-cinematic dialogue that you have no gameplay control during whatsoever).

Not a JRPG, but based on your tastes I'll mention it just in case you haven't tried but perhaps Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner might be worth a look? Epic combat system, particularly the boss fights. You can skip the cutscenes if you don't care for the story, but they're not too long either. Game is quite short but one of those quality over quantity situations and despite being a PS2 game actually has some great aesthetic and music even now.

[Unmotivated]

Publicado originalmente por Xengre:

If you don't mind older JRPGs (some of these aren't that old tho, but some are), aside from the mentions Ys... some others you might appreciate are

Radiata Stories (PS2)

Final Fantasy XV (Steam) - this one is potentially more of what you were looking for being overwhelmingly gameplay oriented

Star Ocean franchise are action oriented games, though be warned 5 (is on Steam) and 6 (PS only) are considered pretty bad but maybe you will still like... Star Ocean 3 and 2 are considered the best and the newest one is just okay. They can range from having a decent amount of story to tons of gameplay. Imo, 3 has the best gameplay but it also has a very sizeable amount of puzzle dungeons (think Zelda kind of) and a decent amount of story (but nothing like heavier story JRPGs). Star Ocean The Second Story R is probably the one I would suggest having the best balance of gameplay for you to start with and is on Steam.

Tales of Arise might potentially be okay since you were fairly good with Berseria and, imo, it is a better game. The only issue is the pacing in the final stretch of the game is way off with heavier story dump (those mini-scenes where you press select or whatever to bring up character conversations is the main issue, there are tons of them even back to back but only at that final portion of the game). The combat is way better than Berseria, too. Maybe get on sale though just to be safe or check a review for it first.

Nier Automata might be worth a look.

Avoid Final Fantasy VII Remake. Great game, but not for you and it will encompass the same issues as XVI here, plus the combat isn't truly action but hiding an invisible turn based system at its core with some minor action elements.

I can't pull up your history while typing this but if you haven't tried Code Vein and Scarlet Nexus you may want to give those a go. Think Elden Ring / Dark Souls (more Dark Souls really) with an anime filter for Code Vein. Scarlet Nexus isn't my cup of tea so can't speak of it directly but should be worth looking at considering its positive reception.

Trials of Mana (including the new one coming out) might be worth looking at from what I've seen in the trailers but I've not played to personally fully be certain of that. Worth a look (maybe wait on review).

A classic and may not even be your taste but just in case, Shining Force EXA for PS2.

Avoid the Trails of series like a plague and your arch nemesis Xenosaga (15-30 hours of cutscenes PER game, literally, of which are three games total and that isn't even counting additional non-cinematic dialogue that you have no gameplay control during whatsoever).

Not a JRPG, but based on your tastes I'll mention it just in case you haven't tried but perhaps Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner might be worth a look? Epic combat system, particularly the boss fights. You can skip the cutscenes if you don't care for the story, but they're not too long either. Game is quite short but one of those quality over quantity situations and despite being a PS2 game actually has some great aesthetic and music even now.

Final Fantasy 15 i already completed on PS4. Not the best combat system, but not bad to revisit for a few hours.

Have and enjoyed Code Vein (as per my love of the Souls and God Eater combat systems which it draws inspiration.) And Scarlet Nexus was a neat blend of character action with JRPG, though does have similar pacing problems as per JRPG standards and the characters are just bland and forgettable to me. Liked Zone of the Enders if it didn't have Denuvo (cuz Steam Deck gamer.)

Completed Nier Automata and though i enjoyed the story, the combat left much to be desired due to difficulty balancing issues, too easy on Normal, too punishing on Hard.

I'll have to check out those other ones.

[X Pradiator]

So this was the "Action packed" games PS fanbois were praising?? seems very boring and soulless to me compared to something like Sekiro , graphics are also lackluster(playing at highest settings) will probably get on 50% off

[Necho]

Publicado originalmente por Unmotivated:

i find it hilarious that people are bashing you for not enjoying a movie pretending to be a game because it's a JRPG.

like, i get that a lot of JRPGs are very story and character focused as opposed to gameplay, but those games tend to TRY to have a balance in between.

the demo on PS5 was an interesting story for sure, but it wasn't a very fun game to play. it wasn't a fun game to play because i spent most of that time in cutscenes rather than playing the otherwise fun gameplay, which actually strikes a dissonance with the incredibly slow paced story.

it just comes across to me as plain poorly paced and poorly implemented. fast paced, action oriented combat in a slow building story thriller is not what i consider a good narrative or gameplay experience, and if you're going to make it story focused, don't give us an active combat system that demands players to be invested in the mechanics. it feels like FF16 has a huge identity crisis, as did 15 before it. they got the mechanics right this time, but they don't actually let you play around with them because it's far too long in between combat sections. it's actually very disappointing.

and to the person that mentioned Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear, they suffer the exact same problem: these aren't games, they're movies pretending to be games. just because Metal Gear exists doesn't mean Final Fantasy 16 is absolved of the movie criticism, because both did it to a terribly obnoxious degree.

Giga based. Some Japanese developers have been influenced by Sony's movie-like games. Yoshida and Kojima are some notorious examples.

[Necho]

Also for the people defending this casual cinematic games I've a question for you: what's your definition of Final Fantasy? What's your definition of action game? Hell, even what's your definition of videogame in general? Because if you're ok with this interactive movie that barely qualifies as a videogame, my friends your standards are so low that Square Enix can make the next Final Fantasy game a visual novel and you'll just consume consume consume.
Be critic guys. This game was made for the Playstation audience. "Adult" themes, long cutscenes, western-like characters, realistic visuals, basic gameplay, quick time events... It's obvious that casuals will love it. For the rest of the people who actually understand where Final Fantasy comes from is nothing but a sad attempt to hook the Western market. SE wants to turn Final Fantasy into God of War. Please be critic. If you're ok with this, then there's no hope for FF as a franchise.

[Shadowlet]

Publicado originalmente por net34a:

Also for the people defending this casual cinematic games I've a question for you: what's your definition of Final Fantasy? What's your definition of action game? Hell, even what's your definition of videogame in general? Because if you're ok with this interactive movie that barely qualifies as a videogame, my friends your standards are so low that Square Enix can make the next Final Fantasy game a visual novel and you'll just consume consume consume.
Be critic guys. This game was made for the Playstation audience. "Adult" themes, long cutscenes, western-like characters, realistic visuals, basic gameplay, quick time events... It's obvious that casuals will love it. For the rest of the people who actually understand where Final Fantasy comes from is nothing but a sad attempt to hook the Western market. SE wants to turn Final Fantasy into God of War. Please be critic. If you're ok with this, then there's no hope for FF as a franchise.

It's ok bro, Yoshi-P just applied his VN philosophy in XIV to this game.

[Raagnorok]

I like story. why else would i play a final fantasy game. more cutscenes please. the old gameboy final fantasy's were years ago. I'd just play fire emblem for the tactics

[Littlecolt]

"Man, I sure to dislike narrative cutscenes. Let me buy the latest game in the Narrative Cutscenes and Sadbois series. I sure hope there aren't any sadbois in this thing."

[Haseo8]

Publicado originalmente por mochimitsu7:

I don't think the problem is the cutscenes (Baldur's Gate 3 is filled with them too), but the fact you lack any agency whatsoever. The lack of decision-making or even gameplay during scenes is mind-boggling to me.

Yoshida doesn't want to make games, he wants to make movies. And this game suffers from that philosophy. Even though they're impressively looking scenes, they are literally 70% of the entire game. That's why it's $49.99 on Steam. You're essentially paying for a movie, not a game under PC standards.

And for those asking if it improves: no, it doesn't. You still get literally 8-10 minute cutscenes every time. I think by the end of act 2 is when you finally open up, but that's roughly about 10-18 hours into the game, if not more.

What kind of gameplay would you even want during scenes? FF7 Rebirth had a lot of scenes where they made the player do something and it got heavily criticized for it.

[Gemini Holo]

Publicado originalmente por Mayoo:

I have to admit, it is really slow to begin. Definitely story-driven. But it hurts, especially for a demo.

I just made it passed the goblin fights and it starts to move a bit now. I just hope combat gets harder and some dept over time. Like you said, so far it's a button masher.

Once you get a few Eikons it's pretty satisfying being able to switch between their special powers during combat. I'm not a bit fan of Final Fantasy going the action-combat route, but I will admit I did enjoy it the more things I unlocked/paired together.

[Haseo8]

I guess I'll just say for me, in an rpg, I want a lot of cutscenes and dialogue. I want a lot of story and character interactions. You may ask why I don't just watch a movie instead. Simple answer to that is you can't play a movie. You can't walk around town and interact with its inhabitants in a movie. You can't interact with characters in a movie. I don't need to be playing all the time. I really enjoyed the story and the characters in this game, and the gameplay. I want both. Not one or the other. I want a heavy narrative experience, but I also want gameplay in it. Video games is my favorite story telling medium.

[Corona Scurrae]

yep it's literally a cinematic button masher meant for the most casual crowd. nothing wrong with that if the plot and lore were exceptional. sadly it's subpar to say the least even in that department.