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Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Released Wednesday, 21st June 2023
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Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Final Fantasy XVI Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Wednesday, 21st June 2023
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Episode Transcript

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0:07

What's up and welcome back to the

0:10

kind of funny games cast. Of course, I'm Tim

0:12

Gettys, and I'm joined by the new face of video

0:14

games. Blessing at a OEA Junior. Good

0:16

afternoon, Tim.

0:17

My brother and Final Fantasy love Michael.

0:19

Hi. Hey, what up, man? Thank you for

0:22

having me here again. Have

0:24

to do it. This is what your third time now on the show just

0:26

to talk about Final Fantasy 16. It's

0:29

official, baby. It's the review and

0:31

rounding out the group today. We have the Nitro rifle.

0:33

Andy Cortez. I think maybe

0:36

the fourth time we had you on was to talk Final Fantasy 14

0:38

online during the pandemic.

0:41

You were just walking by a blesses room, and they're like, Michael,

0:44

come in here. And you just talk for about 50 minutes. And

0:46

then after that, though, was Crisis Core. Oh,

0:49

wow. You've

0:51

been pigeonholed. Yes. I love it so much.

0:53

Of course,

0:53

this is the kind of funny games cast. Each and every

0:56

week we get together to talk about video games and

0:58

all the things that we love about them. And let me tell

1:00

you, I'm really loving video games right

1:02

now. This year just continues to

1:04

be absolutely wild. I

1:07

can't wait to get all the details about this game. But

1:09

Final Fantasy 16 delivered you all the great year

1:12

rolls on real quick. Want to get it out of the way?

1:14

I'm very badly sunburned. All right, leave your funny

1:16

joke comments in the comments. We can move on. It's

1:18

a great stuff. That's just the lighting. It's

1:21

just it hurts. Never mind. It hurts. Very zoomed

1:23

in. It's supposed to be. I hate to see.

1:26

I'm going to use the word puss. Yo,

1:29

your man is good. They might say that in

1:31

Final Fantasy 16. They might. It's

1:33

M rated. They can do whatever they want. And they do.

1:36

But of course, we can say whatever we want here on

1:38

YouTube.com slash kind of funny games or

1:40

roosterteeth.com. If you want to get it as

1:42

a podcast, you can search your favorite podcast

1:44

service for kind of funny games cast. And

1:47

we will be right there for you for all

1:49

you need in spoiler cast and previews

1:51

and reviews and impressions, anything predictions

1:53

under the video game suns.

1:56

You can go check all of that out each and

1:58

every week. Today, we're brought to you by.

1:59

better help, but I'll tell you about that later,

2:02

unless you're on patreon.com slash

2:04

kind of funny, where you can get the show ad free, you

2:06

can watch live as it's recorded, and

2:09

you get to be a super cool Patreon

2:11

producer like Delaney Twining. We appreciate

2:13

you so very, very much. Actually,

2:16

I think that there's another set

2:19

of producers that I'm gonna pull up right now. Bless,

2:22

talk for a second. Well, I mean, I might get those

2:24

before you do, because I got the KHD doc opened up

2:26

right now, and the Patreon producers are Casey Andrew,

2:28

Delaney Twining, and James

2:29

Hastings. James Hastings, thank you all very much.

2:32

Thank you, bless for that assist right there.

2:34

I got you. Anyways, enough of all

2:36

of that. The day has come. We're talking

2:38

about Final Fantasy 16, our

2:42

official review.

2:44

I'm the lead reviewer on this. It's very rare these

2:46

days that I take lead position on games,

2:48

a lot of stuff going on, but for Final Fantasy 16, I

2:50

was like, I think this one has to be. I'll do

2:52

it myself. You did the thing on me. Pull me in, coach.

2:55

I did, I did.

2:56

I just want to start off by saying that this

2:58

is, I think, the

3:01

best Final Fantasy game ever made. I

3:03

think this is one of the best video games

3:05

ever made. Time will tell where this

3:07

falls on my list of favorite Final

3:10

Fantasies, and I think that that's crazy, bro. But

3:12

when it comes to what makes

3:15

a Final Fantasy, I think this game reinvents

3:18

all of that for a modern audience, a more

3:20

mainstream audience, while also showing so

3:22

much love to the people that have been there from the

3:24

beginning, the people that have been there for the last

3:27

couple iterations, whatever their entry point

3:29

into Final Fantasy. I think that Final Fantasy 15

3:32

is the God of War. 16, 16. Sorry,

3:35

sorry, 16. I think Final Fantasy 16 is

3:37

the God of War 2018 moment for this

3:39

franchise. I think that from a

3:41

narrative point of view, from a combat point of

3:44

view, from a just pure vision

3:46

standpoint, the production values of

3:48

this game, everything works together

3:51

so beautifully, and the game only

3:53

gets better the more you play it. I'm

3:56

like 65 hours into this thing.

3:58

I have done every side quest that.

3:59

that has come up along the way. I am just enthralled

4:02

with everything that this game has to offer. Rolled

4:05

credits last night and just

4:08

the amount that I was playing and had to play to get

4:10

this review done. I played this game 14 hours

4:12

yesterday. 14 hours,

4:15

that is the most I've ever played a video game in one

4:18

day. And I didn't need to do that. I could

4:20

have not done side quests. I could have not

4:22

done a whole bunch of stuff.

4:23

I needed to. That's why his face is red right

4:25

now. That is. That is. I will say.

4:28

It's a 3D on the five. And

4:30

I tweeted this. I have never seen

4:33

my PS5 or anyone's PS5 overheat

4:36

10 different times playing this game. My PS5

4:38

literally said, yo, turn this off. It

4:40

is getting too hot. I never crashed. Not

4:43

a single crash, but every boss

4:45

fight pretty much. And you'll understand

4:47

what you're playing. There's a lot going

4:50

on. But I would get this with warning pop

4:52

up. Has anybody else had that?

4:53

No. OK, me and you also broke

4:55

ass. I know what's weird

4:57

about it. I clean my PS5. It

5:00

is out in the open. But there's so much space around

5:03

it. I got fans going everywhere.

5:04

Whatever. Didn't crash. But

5:07

Far From Fantasy 16, I think, is absolutely

5:09

incredible. I can't stop

5:12

thinking about it. I don't think I'm going to stop thinking

5:14

about it or talking about it. The only thing

5:16

that makes me sad is this is a completely spoiler

5:18

free review. And all I want to do

5:21

is talk to you boys about spoilers, because

5:23

there's a lot to be spoiled in this game. And

5:25

it is incredibly, incredibly special

5:27

stuff. I think that this is pushing the franchise

5:30

forward in such a major

5:32

way. And they did it. They

5:33

did it. Bless, what do you

5:35

think? Yeah, no. It's

5:38

fun reviewing this game and playing through it and getting

5:40

to the end and thinking about

5:41

the pieces of media that I hold as,

5:44

oh, these are the masterpieces that I've experienced this

5:46

year, right? Because I go from Across the Spider-Verse,

5:48

right, is up there. The Last of Us TV show is

5:50

up there. Zelda hears the Kingdom is up there. And

5:52

I didn't think that. Twisted Metal coming up. Twisted Metal's coming

5:55

up soon. Yeah, and that's going to be in there. I didn't think that

5:57

Final Fantasy 16 would enter that list, but

5:59

it's 1,000. in that list. Like it's probably one

6:01

of my favorite pieces of media at the end of the day that I've

6:03

experienced in 2023. And

6:06

it's just phenomenal. Like on every single level

6:09

that I play this game, right? Where the

6:11

combat system, I'd say rivals so

6:14

many action game combat systems and it's

6:16

an RPG, right? It's a

6:18

JRPG or an action RPG, however you want to categorize it, but

6:20

it rivals the Delphamite Cries

6:22

of the world or any other character action

6:25

game you want to list out. And it took a little bit to get there,

6:27

right? In the first 15

6:28

hours, I was very much like, okay, this is good. I

6:30

can see where this is going. Like this is this is fine. And

6:33

then by the time I got 25, 30, 35, 40 hours in, that combat

6:35

system starts to sing in

6:39

a way that just had me enthralled. And

6:41

just really quickly, Ryota Suzuki, the combat

6:44

designer prior worked on

6:46

DMC. Yes. Mentioned that

6:48

this is his masterpiece. And

6:50

honestly, in a lot of ways I can see it because I

6:52

think they do such a good job with all the

6:55

different systems working in tandem to really

6:57

make it sing. Like I think the one thing out

6:59

there is maybe I could have gotten more out of some

7:01

of the enemy combat design. Like there's a lot of

7:03

enemy variety, but I think they could have done

7:05

a bit more with how the enemies actually like interact

7:07

and like the ways in which you have to

7:09

like solve different issues. Right. But

7:13

the combat tool set they give you is

7:15

so fun and so great and you get further

7:17

and they add in more complexity that

7:19

makes it dope where you have your equippable

7:22

items, you have

7:22

like the your skill tree abilities

7:25

and all this stuff. And one of the one of the equippable

7:27

items you get is or at least that I got

7:29

in my play through was one that made

7:31

it so that I can automatically charge my

7:34

magic moves. Right. And so I had

7:36

that and then there was like a skill tree move to where I can

7:38

there's if you hold square, you can do like a charge

7:40

up to your sword. But it takes a while. It's

7:43

great, but it takes a while to charge up until I got a

7:45

skill until I leveled it up in the skill tree. And

7:47

so like now it charges up pretty fast using

7:49

like that to then I hold

7:52

square, try to charge up real quick, smash

7:54

an enemy. They float up in the in the air and then

7:56

I got the automatic charge thing. So I

7:58

use that to like hit the enemy. and they get like

8:00

another burst of damage and then I use my Phoenix

8:02

shift, which is like one of the first abilities to get into

8:04

the game to teleport to them. And I'm getting

8:06

the air combos on them. Such a satisfying

8:08

feeling that I never thought I would get out of a Final Fantasy

8:11

game. Like this is a fantastic combat

8:13

system. You have that, but then you also have storytelling

8:16

and role building that I'd say is

8:19

at the peak of

8:21

fantasy RPG story.

8:23

The story is very, it has

8:25

like,

8:26

you know, a big scope, but the way in which

8:28

they deliver it to you is very digestible

8:31

and the active

8:33

time lore, is that what it's called? Active time lore.

8:35

Such a great system that I hope to see in so many games going

8:38

forward. Like that is actually pushing things forward in

8:40

terms of giving you all the lore tidbits

8:42

you need in real time. You hold the touchpad

8:44

button at any moment in the game and it pauses

8:46

and gives you all like the, basically like the like

8:49

small excerpts, like small Wikipedia entries

8:51

on all these characters. Contextual to that specific

8:54

scene. Yeah. And so it's like, oh yeah, who's this guy again? You

8:56

hold that and it tells you exactly who that person

8:58

is at that time in the game, right? It's

9:01

all contextual to what's going on. It also

9:03

lets you know when it's updating as well. Really nice. Yeah.

9:05

There's always

9:05

a little little icon, like when

9:07

you get a new text and you see a little bubble or whatever,

9:10

like it'll let you know, oh, there's a new addition

9:12

to whoever this person's lore is or

9:14

whatever this place's lore is. And it's so good.

9:16

It keeps you involved with what's going on. It tells

9:18

you about not just people, but locations.

9:21

Like what's, where are you at right now? What part

9:23

of the, what part of the nation are

9:25

you in? Right? Like what, what are

9:27

the different factions or different things? Like

9:30

they have so much in there that clues you into

9:32

what's going on that kept me involved the whole time as somebody

9:34

who I admittedly am not a

9:35

big fantasy person. I was into

9:37

the lore and the fantasy because they do such a good job of ushering

9:40

you in the cinematics in the game. Some

9:42

of the best, some of the best stuff you're

9:44

going to see in this game, right? Like there are moments

9:47

in this game in terms of epicness

9:49

and skill that rival a God of War in a

9:51

way that, you know, like I look at God of War as a

9:53

peak of that when you're talking about like, like cutscene

9:56

battles that are

9:57

fantastic to look at this game in

9:59

moments.

9:59

puts God of War to shame, and I never thought

10:02

I'd say that. There is some scale

10:04

in the cut scenes in this game that look fantastic and

10:06

also run fantastic. In the gameplay even.

10:08

In the game. Yeah. Even in the gameplay, yeah, where

10:10

you're feeling that same level of epicness and

10:13

scale that shuts other games

10:15

down. Then, yeah, the character work as

10:17

well. I fell in love with characters in this game. Clive,

10:19

absolutely love. Did not think I was going to love Clive

10:21

as much as I ended up falling in love with that character. His

10:24

motivation is great.

10:27

The moment-to-moment interactions that he has between

10:29

characters is great.

10:29

He's still that manly,

10:32

gruff, brooding, handsome,

10:36

but in a manly way kind of dude. But

10:38

the further you dig into his character, the more I really, really

10:41

appreciate this character. Yeah, this game

10:43

is a five out of five for me, and it's a really easy five

10:46

out of five. It's a fantastic game. Real quick

10:48

before we move on to High and Bless, how long did it take you to beat

10:50

it? Tim, how long did it take you to beat it? It took me 50 hours,

10:53

and I wanted to do more. I wanted to have a beat

10:55

by the time I finished it, but I'm reloading my last

10:57

save, and I'm doing more side quests because I want to do

10:59

more. I'm 65 hours in. I

11:01

did every single

11:02

side quest available. There

11:05

are some other things that I'm not going to talk about

11:07

that are available as well that I haven't done yet,

11:09

but I can't wait to get back to it. I

11:11

am. What do

11:12

you think about the game? Oh my God. This

11:14

game, I've been waiting for this for a very long

11:16

time. I

11:18

remember when I was sitting in my room in September 2020

11:21

crying as I heard their rendition

11:24

of the Crystal Prelude performed

11:26

by an orchestra with our first introduction

11:28

to the world of Valisthea and Clive as our protagonist.

11:31

It's

11:31

finally here. I finally played it. 55 hours I

11:34

played this game, and I love

11:37

it very dearly. It's a, I mean,

11:39

you can check out my review on gamespot.com. I

11:41

landed on a nine out of 10, which

11:43

is superb. It's a fucking incredible

11:46

game for all the reasons

11:48

that y'all stated.

11:50

So for me, like all that

11:52

stuff y'all said, I 1,000 percent agree and

11:54

is 100 percent true. The things that I

11:57

hold most dear in a Final Fantasy

11:59

and. in 16 is the character work.

12:02

Because you see these characters

12:05

go through so much trauma, so

12:07

much tragedy in their life.

12:09

And they have a lot of they have like the

12:11

burden of their sins weighed upon

12:13

them, but they're not ones that they chose

12:15

to do because of the circumstances that that

12:18

world had put them in. So you see

12:20

these arcs of atonement, and

12:22

making what's making the world right

12:25

and fighting for the social injustices

12:27

that you see across this world

12:29

is one of the things I said in my preview is like,

12:32

all right, I want to see how this game handles its

12:34

themes of, of like,

12:37

persecution and slavery, because those are touchy

12:39

subjects. And if you don't do

12:41

them right, they can fall flat.

12:44

But there are key moments in the

12:46

writing in this game that make it make

12:49

it very clear that it understands what it's

12:51

working with, especially in dialogue

12:53

with like, Sid, where he is kind

12:56

of the crux of the revolution that is happening

12:58

in Valestia. And some of the things that

13:00

he says to Clive and Jill, when

13:02

they're still kind of on the fence about joining

13:05

his cause are so powerful and

13:07

so sharply written that it feels like,

13:10

yes, this team has an understanding of the dynamics

13:12

because it's complicated, though these topics are

13:14

complicated. And the the writing shows

13:16

that they understand those dynamics. And

13:19

it shows through into characters actions and how

13:21

they feel and how they develop and how they grow. But

13:24

even beyond that, a lot of the supporting characters

13:26

also go through their own arcs and have an important

13:29

place in the story. And

13:31

they get their moments in their most critical,

13:34

most crucial moments. They fucking

13:36

rise up and put their foot down.

13:39

And

13:40

oh, my God, they just really sell the

13:42

moment, whether it's the voice acting, the choreography

13:45

of the cutscene, the music that's

13:47

playing, the thing that they're doing,

13:50

that they've been motivated throughout this whole

13:52

game, they finally do it.

13:54

You just feel this weight off

13:56

of their shoulders. And it's it's

13:58

moments like these that I will never forget. never forget.

14:01

And these are things that Final Fantasy

14:03

has always done, but in this

14:05

particular way, at this high of

14:07

a level of production values, it

14:10

makes those small moments with these characters

14:13

feel so monumental. And

14:15

the thing is, is that that's

14:18

one part of the equation, right? The icons, the

14:20

icon battles.

14:22

Those at first, when we played the

14:24

previews, I was like, oh, okay, cool. I see what

14:26

they're doing. They're trying. Yeah, they're, they're not that,

14:28

that deep. And maybe that's just them trying to flex

14:31

and like really give people that cinematic

14:33

experience that will probably rope them in.

14:36

But as the game goes on without

14:38

saying anything, spoiler spoilers, of course,

14:40

is that they

14:41

find a way

14:43

to make those bombastic,

14:45

those over the top fucking dragon

14:47

ball Z power level type shit. Osera

14:49

is wrath type shit. Oh yeah. They make those

14:51

things feel grounded. Like those moments

14:54

matter,

14:55

but they're, they're saying something about the characters,

14:57

their personalities, and what it is that they're fighting for.

15:00

So I think that 16 had, does

15:02

such a great job of melding the fantastical

15:04

over the top

15:05

stuff with the more ground, like what's

15:08

happening at the ground level with people's lives.

15:10

And that is an achievement.

15:13

I think that like, I didn't

15:15

expect them to execute

15:17

it as well as they did.

15:19

And I think that's probably the most

15:21

impressive part to me.

15:22

Yeah. I think the dragon ball Z influence is

15:25

like

15:25

very apparent when you play through it. And I,

15:28

what I think I might've texted you this while playing

15:30

that, like playing this game feels like you're watching five

15:32

seasons of dragon ball Z. It's fucking matching game

15:34

of thrones. And at the same time,

15:37

it works. You ever want dragon ball Z in game of

15:39

thrones? Well, I got a game for y'all. Yeah. I

15:41

mean, this game carries so much influence that I think, and I think it

15:43

takes all the right parts because yeah, there's dragon ball

15:45

Z in there. There's game of thrones in there. There's

15:47

God of war in there, right? The modern God of war games.

15:49

There's the Witcher in there, I'd say. There's Devil

15:52

May Cry in there. And all of those

15:54

things are implemented in all the right ways

15:55

to create an experience that is going to speak

15:58

to traditional Final Fantasy fan.

15:59

like Tim and Michael, right? And

16:02

I think a lot of new people, you know, like I'm

16:04

coming into this as somebody who really enjoyed Final Fantasy 7

16:06

Remake, but you know, when it comes to the history of Final Fantasy,

16:08

I'm not somebody who gravitates toward the franchise. This

16:11

one has brought me in and it is now one of my, it's

16:14

my top like 30 games, right? If I had to

16:16

break it down, right? And Final Fantasy 7 Remake is in there as well,

16:18

but man, like did this thing make me

16:21

feel the magic of Final Fantasy in a way that I

16:23

didn't know I could feel again for something that is on

16:25

this side of fantasy, you

16:27

know? Like I'm with you Tim that this traditional,

16:29

you know, fantasy that is about

16:32

kingdoms and orcs and goblins

16:34

are running around, you gotta fight and all that shit. Like that's not my kind

16:37

of thing. I love the steampunkness and the style

16:39

of a Final Fantasy 7, right? I

16:42

like a sci-fi type thing. I am totally

16:44

into this fantasy world and I'm not

16:46

usually the target audience for this kind of thing, but they did it.

16:49

Yeah, Andy, I want to get to you in just one sec, but

16:51

just keeping on what you're saying here about the

16:53

inspirations, the Game of Thrones, we bring up God of War,

16:55

we bring up things. Good, because I'm about to roast this shit.

16:58

I'm like, what's with the boss

16:59

of the table? But not only

17:02

is all that, I do really want to stress, it's

17:04

also Final Fantasy. It

17:06

is so, so, so Final Fantasy.

17:09

And what I think is powerful about this is, I think

17:11

the biggest correlation to God of War besides

17:13

the quality of writing and production values and

17:16

gameplay and everything of what makes that game good, this

17:18

game does all that as well. It is the

17:21

idea that you didn't need to play any of the other God

17:23

of Wars. You can jump into 2018 and it be

17:25

this amazing experience for you, if you knew the

17:27

other stuff, it's cool, but contextually you get

17:29

it

17:29

all.

17:30

Final Fantasy VII Remake, same kind of idea.

17:32

That game works, but it works way better if you know

17:35

the other stuff. Final Fantasy XVI, you don't

17:37

need to know anything about previous Final

17:39

Fantasies, because Final Fantasy's been

17:41

an anthology series, but this one, I think

17:44

really put their best foot forward at being

17:46

like, we're gonna make the Final Fantasy.

17:48

You're bringing up the crystal theme, which is the theme

17:51

of Final Fantasy. It's like the menu music for most

17:53

of them. This game

17:56

uses that theme as its theme, essentially,

17:58

throughout the entire game.

17:59

weaves it in, the idea of the crystals,

18:02

the idea of the summons getting familiar

18:04

with who they all are, we know what Bahamut

18:07

means compared to an Ifrit, compared to. But have

18:09

they ever had this much story to them?

18:10

No, not like this. I mean, there's

18:12

been ones where there are some games that they're

18:15

way more involved in the story than others. But I think

18:17

that this one was really like,

18:18

what matters about Final Fantasy? Cool, let's

18:21

tell the, I know I'm

18:24

relating it to a lot of things, but there are a lot of things that

18:26

I love that I stand by it. The MCU,

18:29

where it took decades

18:31

of Marvel history and was like, okay, but let's

18:33

do this for the Andes of the world that are

18:35

interested, but haven't read the comics. But

18:38

let's have a definitive take on

18:40

the mainstream appeal of this. That's

18:42

what I think this game is.

18:43

And then they took that opportunity. It's kind of like when

18:45

artists have the pop single and

18:47

then the album's just full of hitters, like

18:50

Mims did back with The Why I'm Hot. I'm

18:52

in the move if you wanna use it, because my

18:55

savior. Was not expecting a Mimsie. I'm

18:57

very dumb. My savior. But

18:59

it's like, I kind of feel like they did that with

19:02

this, they're like, yo, this is gonna be the entry points rated

19:04

M, y'all like Game of Thrones? You're gonna like this? But then they're

19:06

also like, but really though, this is the best fucking Final Fantasy

19:08

ever, dawg. But also like, it has a very

19:10

satisfying end. And like, that's the thing that I didn't

19:12

get out of Final Fantasy 7

19:13

Remake is, you know, I played the remake,

19:15

I finished 7 Remake, and

19:18

I really enjoyed it. But I then had to

19:20

look toward Tim and Imran and be like, what happened?

19:23

Like, what's going on here? Whispers, baby. Yeah,

19:25

I was like, I feel so empty by

19:27

this ending because I feel like I'm not in the in crowd. You

19:29

play through Final Fantasy 16, and it feels like one

19:32

full epic product that is

19:34

from beginning to end dope, and it finishes and

19:36

it's like, oh, okay, I love this. Like, it's given

19:38

me everything I want.

19:39

We're glowing, Andy. You're up next.

19:42

How far are you and what are you thinking? You can kill

19:44

it right now. I'm about 15

19:46

to 18 hours, I'd say around there. I

19:50

am blown away by so much of what this video

19:52

game does. I think

19:55

the reason why it's resonating so much more with

19:57

me than Final Fantasy 7 Remake did, and I love

19:59

it. that game is like

20:04

if I'm gonna sit down to watch an HBO drama

20:07

I know what I'm in for and you kind of have those expectations

20:10

and if I'm gonna sit down to watch My Hero Academia

20:12

I know what I'm in for and I have those

20:14

expectations but

20:16

if I was to get My Hero Academia

20:18

type dialogue and acting and writing

20:20

in

20:21

my HBO drama

20:23

that I have expect to win several Emmys

20:25

I'd be like oh this is kind of weird

20:27

and kind of throwing me off

20:29

and I've always kind of felt that way with a lot of different

20:31

Final Fantasies and I know that's like one thing I am loved

20:34

is like the kind

20:36

of like goofy light-heartedness that you

20:38

get from a lot of Final

20:40

Fantasy entries

20:43

and this one I think is doing

20:45

such a great job to stay

20:48

really really mature while

20:50

still throwing in some nice you know little like

20:53

sweet moments between characters but

20:55

I just think story-wise and

20:57

writing wise like I texted Tim about just

20:59

a random throwaway line that was really

21:02

impressive to hear in a game

21:05

that I wasn't expecting to get that from I'm expecting

21:08

the epic moments I'm expecting the the

21:10

get hype stuff where the music is just crescendoing

21:13

to all hell and all

21:15

the action is happening on the screen you're like wow

21:17

what a feast and what I'm getting here but

21:19

I wasn't expecting to be like

21:22

just impressed by a little random offhand

21:24

comments by characters and I think like the dialogue

21:26

and the writing is so strong very strong in

21:28

this game I'm incredibly impressed

21:31

by it

21:31

combat absolute blast just like what

21:33

everybody's mentioned already it is so freakin

21:36

fun just to get creative

21:38

with it and make your own fun

21:40

out of it and it almost reminds me of the

21:42

arguments we're

21:44

having when

21:45

when Avengers came out

21:47

the Avengers I

21:50

was gonna say pay-to-win game but

21:53

I made a service game and

21:55

you started seeing people pulling

21:58

off really crazy cool combos in that

21:59

game and it's like look it

22:02

is just punchy punch to get the number go up

22:04

and you know blah blah blah like what we're used to with

22:06

games like this but you can make a lot

22:09

of fun with it if you just

22:11

try it it doesn't have to just be button mash button

22:13

mash I'm you know I'm gonna do this the boring way

22:16

I feel that way about this game tenfold

22:19

the way that you can mix up with all the different

22:21

iconic powers

22:23

like blessing was mentioning

22:25

I love getting an enemy midair

22:28

zipping up to him punching punching punching zip

22:30

to somebody else knock them down switch

22:32

to the other power because that's gonna give me a different

22:35

ability it is so damn fun

22:38

I am not

22:41

as impressed as I thought I'd be with the

22:43

visuals I was talking to Tim about this

22:46

and it's just like little gripe nothing

22:48

major at all when

22:50

you're in performance mode this game runs

22:52

at 1080p and it's upscaled to

22:54

1440p and it just looks fuzzier than

22:56

I would want it to compared to other titles

22:59

like when I think of horizon

23:01

forbidden west and like how graphically like

23:04

the fidelity in that game was just jaw-dropping

23:07

and there are a lot of moments in this game where

23:09

you notice that a lot of the time

23:12

and budget went into these incredibly

23:14

flashy amazing moments that are

23:16

worth it like don't get me wrong they are absolutely

23:18

worth it

23:19

but then you go talk to random NPC and

23:21

it it looks very much like the PC

23:23

game there's an uncanny valley right yeah

23:26

there's like there and and those moments kind

23:28

of like stick out to me more and more because I'm so

23:30

used to seeing these characters in

23:32

these cutscenes be so expressive and like

23:35

you're watching them cry you're watching this and that and then

23:37

they go talk to an NPC and it's the

23:39

automated animations with the

23:41

with the the mouth it just kind of moves and there's

23:43

even a moment I had recently where Clive is like get

23:46

away from her and he's like just incredibly dramatic

23:48

moment but it's like there's no face

23:51

animation so he's just like

23:53

the flap in his jaw get away from and it's like those

23:55

are the moments that do kind of bum me out because I expect

23:58

you know the scale We've

24:00

been talking about you know how expensive it

24:02

looks and it certainly looks that way in a lot of

24:04

moments and

24:05

And in certain ways not so much

24:07

in my opinion but

24:10

aside from that I can tell that I

24:13

I mean, I'm gonna keep on playing this game. Obviously,

24:15

I'm gonna beat it and I can tell that this is easily

24:17

going to be a Contender It's

24:23

amazing it is a must-play even

24:25

if you don't care about Final Fantasy as

24:27

a franchise I've seen a lot of conjecture

24:29

and people getting into the demo that recently

24:31

came out and wondering

24:33

is this a good one to Hop in on obviously they were all standalone,

24:36

but this one I think more

24:38

than any of them is

24:40

Easier to get into like bless he

24:42

was mentioning the digestible story I

24:45

think it's easier to get into for somebody who isn't

24:47

necessarily into playing like JRPGs

24:50

or Maybe you get into those games

24:52

and you're like, oh the tone is not what I expected to be.

24:54

This is like

24:56

So perfect in so many ways and I

24:58

and I love this video game

24:59

I definitely agree with the like character

25:02

models, you know Seeming awkward in times when it was especially

25:04

when it's like those non cinematic moments and it is

25:06

you walking around you talk to somebody And I've

25:08

noticed the exact thing of yeah, their mouth is moving

25:11

like the top half of their face seems like

25:13

it's like cemented But it

25:15

feels like MMO mode. It feels like I'm on performance

25:17

mode. Yeah But one thing I do want to shout out

25:19

is are the environments the environments look fucking

25:22

fantastic, right? Like when you're walking moment

25:24

to moment, especially when you're doing like a mainline like not a side

25:26

quest a main quest and you get to A location

25:29

and

25:29

it feels like they put in

25:31

Like a lot of time a lot of time

25:33

into making environments that you're gonna see for 10 seconds

25:36

when they set up the wallpaper Type

25:38

moments and they know what the fuck. Oh, yeah, and it looks

25:40

incredible You

25:45

get to that you're like Lighting

25:48

lighting is great. I love whatever lighting

25:51

they're using in this engine

25:52

Technically, there's like a lot of stuff

25:54

to really be blown away by and I'm really

25:56

happy that they kind of walked back the

25:59

no day one patch

25:59

thing because it does

26:02

seem like there will be some sort of day one patch

26:04

kind of addressing a bit more frame rate

26:06

issues and I don't think that I think the frame

26:08

rate from what I'm playing now compared to when

26:10

me and Tim played it back a couple

26:12

months ago in LA

26:14

I feel like it's improved a lot still not

26:16

perfect but definitely way more improved and I feel

26:18

a lot better about it now than I

26:20

did

26:21

when we did that preview and I was like ooh I

26:23

hope they get some patches in because this is kind of rough.

26:25

I was gonna ask you what you're playing on but it's only on PS5. It's

26:27

only on PS5.

26:29

I want to keep talking about this stuff but

26:31

first here's a word from our sponsors.

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slash kind of funny today to get 10% off

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month. That's BetterHelp.com

27:38

slash kind of funny. I played

27:40

majority of the game on performance mode

27:43

and I started realizing kind

27:45

of what you're saying where I'm like man this

27:47

looks so good but I just want to look a little bit better.

27:49

I switched over to graphics mode never

27:51

went back. It's consistent.

27:54

Most people are so tough. It

27:56

is and like that's the thing it's not perfect

27:58

but

27:59

it is.

27:59

a stunner like the 4K

28:02

resolution on this game. It makes it

28:04

look so damn good. It solves

28:06

a lot of the problems you're talking about for me where I'm

28:08

like all of a sudden everything feels like

28:10

not just upscaled. It feels right. But

28:13

yeah, then the gameplay stuff you do need to kind of adjust

28:15

to 30, which I know for some people, that's my thing is impossible.

28:18

You can tell that there are moments in

28:20

gameplay where it's like, oh, this is hitting 60, but

28:22

then other moments that I think when you're non combat

28:24

where the framerate is sort of taking a hit. But when

28:26

you're in combat and it's hitting at 60, oh, that

28:29

shit is smooth. I need that. It's so

28:31

great. But and I'd say that's one

28:33

of the main reasons why

28:34

I am a little bit disappointed

28:36

with just the overall looks and performance

28:38

of it, because we

28:40

know that we heard them talking about how

28:43

what a luxury it is to just develop for one platform.

28:46

And you expect that to mean that, like,

28:49

you know, when a game when a game is going to come out

28:51

on a million different PC skews and Xbox

28:54

S and X and PS5,

28:57

that comes with a lot of issues of trying to optimize

28:59

for a million different variables and

29:01

variations is what I meant to say. But

29:03

like for PS5, I expected

29:06

this to be like the cleanest launch.

29:08

And unfortunately, it's not perfect, but still

29:11

very, very good. And that's just me being a little nitpicky

29:13

jerk. Yeah, because I mean, with that stuff, it's

29:15

like I am so blown away by the

29:18

visuals and everything about it, like just from

29:20

an audio video standpoint. And this the surround

29:22

mix is incredible. The

29:24

music be hitting dog. Oh, oh, oh,

29:27

oh, oh. And it just doesn't stop. It

29:29

just doesn't stop. I will say, though,

29:31

for both visuals and audio, I

29:34

and this is the biggest nitpick thing ever,

29:36

but it's where we're at. Because the uncanny

29:38

valley starts to come across a bit. I'm

29:40

like, this is not a real orchestra. I can tell it's not

29:42

a real orchestra. The CG stuff like Crisis

29:45

Core back in 2007 on PSP. Those

29:47

were fully animated, like some

29:49

of it. Yeah. This is an engine. So because

29:52

of that, everything looks the

29:54

same, which is great in the right move for this game.

29:56

But it's like there's just something where I'm like, I know

29:59

that this could be. even more like out

30:01

there. Something's looking even better. But it's like I

30:03

just feel like because everything about the game so

30:05

elevated that those things I can't wait

30:07

for the Distant World's concert. Oh, an actual

30:09

orchestra playing these songs. That shit's about

30:12

to be

30:12

utterly insane. I'm used to

30:14

playing just on my crappy TV

30:16

speakers. And there was a moment where I

30:19

audibly last night hit a spot and

30:22

a fucking track starts just bopping.

30:24

And I paused it. I was

30:27

like, they're not doing this right now. I got to get headphones.

30:29

I got to figure out a better situation because

30:32

my TV speakers are not going to do this justice.

30:34

You don't want to do that. It was awesome. I have been

30:36

hyping up Masayoshi Soken

30:39

ever since I got into Final Fantasy XIV. And

30:41

those people who do not play that game can

30:43

finally see what the fuck I've been talking about,

30:46

man. There's a part of late game where I

30:48

literally saved the clip because there's a song

30:50

playing in this very tense moment. And my

30:53

microphone is on. It usually is when I'm playing games

30:55

for some reason. And you hear me say out loud,

30:57

damn, somebody's about to sample this and make the dopest

30:59

hippot of you. Oh

31:02

my god. Yeah, it's incredible.

31:04

And I dedicate a section in my

31:06

review specifically for this because

31:08

music is part of Final

31:10

Fantasy's storytelling. Like those melodies,

31:13

if you remember. Another

31:16

Mims reference. Nobuo Omatsu

31:18

loves Mims, I bet. No,

31:20

but it's like those, you hear

31:22

a song from like seven or whatever, six

31:24

or four. And I was like, holy shit. I remember

31:27

exactly what was happening in that game, what

31:29

was happening in my life.

31:30

And XVI brings that.

31:33

And it has like the memorable

31:35

melodies, the late motifs that really

31:37

speak to the emotion of the moment, that really

31:40

sell you on these characters and what they're

31:42

doing in that moment. And I think like

31:45

the way that they use the

31:47

crystal prelude and the theme too, and

31:49

the way that team weaves it into

31:52

those moments, it feels like they understand

31:55

what makes Final Fantasy's music click.

31:58

And then even just like the.

31:59

normal boss theme like the mini boss theme

32:02

where it has like the dun dun dun dun dun very

32:04

far fancy to battle so many homages

32:07

in this to like it's not just oh the crystal theme

32:09

that's in everything it's also like

32:11

inspired by like there's some like love grows

32:14

inspiration file fancy eight stuff going

32:16

on in battle of everything that's this

32:18

about of course yeah it's they I

32:21

loved how much like little touches that he

32:23

had to if you know you know but

32:25

if you don't you don't need to because it is just kind

32:27

of so me amazing new arrangements

32:30

are just like brand new songs that are going to

32:32

be new classics going forward like for

32:34

Tim and hi-am

32:37

do you all feel I'm blessing

32:39

you feel free to screw you know

32:42

but duck as you all being like the lifelong

32:45

Final Fantasy fans is this where

32:47

you want to see the direction from here going out

32:50

like do you want to see any changes cuz like as

32:52

an example when I saw Star Wars Andor

32:54

I was like I just want this why can't

32:57

it always be like this and people

32:59

are like well it's got to be different styles every

33:01

once in a while like do you see

33:04

would it be good if the future of Final Fantasy

33:06

was always this sort of over-the-top

33:09

action with

33:11

combat and like insane button

33:14

prompts no let me take this one

33:16

first yeah yeah absolutely go ahead

33:18

my answer is yes that this is

33:20

what the future of Final Fantasy should be because

33:22

this is what Final Fantasy has always been it's something

33:24

different every single time Final

33:27

Fantasy 15 very different than this Final Fantasy 14

33:29

extremely different than you look at 10 you

33:31

look at 9 like there's through lines there's things

33:33

that make them special I think that what

33:35

I want to see is this commitment to

33:37

a vision

33:38

whatever that vision is I do not think

33:40

that the next Final Fantasy needs to play exactly

33:43

like this or be rated M even yeah I

33:45

don't even necessarily think it should be

33:46

I think that this game committed so hard

33:49

and did that shit right and

33:51

made it worth it and made it stand up as like oh this

33:53

is gonna go down as one of the iconic Final Fantasies

33:55

this one will be named in the the

33:58

pantheon of talking about

33:59

talking about 12 and again at this point with Final

34:02

Fantasy, talk to any different person, they're gonna have

34:04

a different one up there. I think this one's gonna be in so

34:06

many people's lists. And I think that that

34:09

is what I wanna see more of, is a commitment to a

34:11

vision that they stand by, that

34:13

isn't afraid to kind of do

34:16

something that radically different that might alienate

34:19

part of the fan base, but they've been doing that

34:21

since day one. Yeah,

34:23

for me, it's, I want them

34:25

to

34:26

do this again. I wanted to see them take a second

34:28

crack at this kind of Final Fantasy,

34:31

because I can see ways

34:33

in which this can be even better.

34:35

And

34:37

like, I have some nitpicks about this

34:39

game that kind of like, oh, I gave it a nine,

34:41

a 10, incredible game, love it dearly.

34:44

But there are some things that I feel like that they can

34:46

improve on. And things like side

34:48

quests, which are rewarding, and

34:51

I would encourage people to seek them all out,

34:53

but the process of actually doing the side quests

34:56

aren't very thrilling. It feels like

34:58

a very noticeable lull in the cadence

35:01

of the game and the qualities of the game. It

35:03

feels like a different team worked on them. Yeah,

35:06

so another thing I wanna bring up that is also kind of

35:08

a positive is that there are a lot of

35:11

Final Fantasy XIV-isms that I

35:13

see in this game extremely clearly. And

35:15

side quests is kind of one of them. It's like, it's okay if that

35:17

style of side quests is an MMO. It's different

35:20

when you're putting it in a triple AAA, like

35:22

high budget game like this, that has such

35:24

high peaks that these validities stick

35:27

out like sore thumbs. But the foundation

35:29

is incredible. Like this game, like they work so

35:31

hard to create this gameplay system

35:33

that's so different from anything else. It'd be a shame if they

35:35

didn't use it in some form or fashion, again,

35:38

in the future. And the,

35:40

like the production

35:41

values and the ways that they

35:44

build out lore for a singular world is

35:46

like, damn, like one, I would like

35:48

a 16 too, but I also

35:50

wanna see them take another crack at this with a different

35:52

world maybe, maybe something that

35:55

isn't

35:55

tied to medieval fantasy, even though this is a very

35:58

good version of a medieval fantasy.

35:59

I would yeah, I it'd

36:02

be a shame We're

36:04

like I would like to see more Sixteens

36:06

right? I don't know what that looks like maybe like 16 spin-offs

36:09

or 16 to if that's even possible And

36:11

like I would love to see like Tim's talking about like I would like to

36:14

see 17 be something that's completely fresh and new I think

36:16

that's the way that you keep the franchise

36:18

going because we've seen it with Final Fantasy I mean we saw with 13 right

36:20

and like that hit its own way, but like 7

36:23

is its own franchise, right? Like it's fun to

36:25

see 16 is coming out right now and

36:28

then next winter or early next year. We're gonna see Seven

36:31

rebirth right after we just played seven crisis

36:33

core last year and you know That's

36:36

that I think that is how Final Fantasy

36:38

is able to iterate upon itself and I think I mean to

36:40

your point of things they can do with it I would love to see them take

36:43

another crack at this and like take in

36:45

feedback on even things They've they've had

36:47

with like representation and stuff because yeah That's conversations

36:50

that we've had or on KHD and on the shows

36:52

over the years of the fact that there's not really any

36:54

people of color in this game and that's the thing that

36:57

I think is glaring when you look at the subject matter

36:59

of it kind of about It kind of like

37:01

I kind of see why yeah, that's the thing is

37:03

like it's a story about persecution It's a

37:05

story about slavery and a lot and like a

37:07

lot of subject matter that is very sensitive and I

37:09

can understand the fear of

37:12

Not wanting to have people of color in

37:14

that because then you have to deal with the thing of okay

37:16

This character is a slave, but they're also like dark

37:18

skin and how are we gonna take this now? Do

37:21

we have the appropriate

37:23

voice in perspective table to deliver

37:25

a story like this that is Authentic

37:27

and also good and non offensive. I

37:29

get that reasoning I also think it's not a good enough

37:31

reasoning to go let's stop black people or people color

37:33

in the story especially when there are areas

37:35

in the game that are Influenced and

37:37

inspired by locations in real world

37:39

that have darker skin you

37:41

know like that is that and I

37:43

It strikes me as weird and strikes me

37:45

as like ah man That's such an odd thing and

37:47

I get it, but you should do better And

37:50

I think they can write like from what I've

37:52

read online from what I've talked to people about

37:54

right like it seems like

37:56

Yoshi P and the team are the kind of people that

37:58

want to do good right and they're

37:59

There are even things in Final Fantasy 16 where I'm like,

38:02

oh, that's pushing things forward. Like,

38:04

that's very appropriate. There are very progressive moments in

38:06

Final Fantasy 16 that I would not have expected, right?

38:08

So I think there's potential to do that. And I would love to see that

38:11

stuff be put into like whatever the next thing for 16

38:13

or for Final Fantasy is. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

38:15

There are moments that I'm like, oh, they went there.

38:18

I mean, not just like in the bombastic

38:20

moments that I'm like, I can't believe that they're doing

38:22

this, but also some

38:24

of the more progressive themes that they kind of fit

38:27

into there. And it feels natural too,

38:29

but like those things like with

38:32

queer characters, with their female characters, I

38:34

think they have a like a surprisingly

38:37

positive outlook on sex work because

38:39

it's a respectable profession in the world

38:41

of Valesthea. And they're such important

38:44

allies to Clive

38:45

in critical moments. So, and

38:48

like the things that they

38:50

let Jill do on her own is just

38:52

like really wild to see. And I love it for

38:55

that, but things like Dalmekia where

38:57

you walk into Dalmekia for the first time and you

38:59

hear sitars and it's like, obviously South

39:01

Asian influenced music there and you

39:03

go there and it's like, there are some

39:06

South Asian passing character models

39:08

there, but then there's also like tanned

39:10

white people. It's like, yo, what if Tim was actually outside

39:13

for like three more days, came back

39:15

recovered. It's like, oh, he lives in Dalmekia now. It's

39:17

like, ah, I guess he's Dalmekian. So

39:20

it's another one of those uncanny values where

39:23

it's like,

39:23

you got it so right in this regard and

39:26

then other ways it's like, ah,

39:28

that could do a little bit more

39:30

work there.

39:32

And I've seen them do it in 14 because I mean,

39:35

not that 14 is perfect, but environments

39:38

like Thavnir which is heavily influenced

39:41

by India and South Asia and the way

39:43

they meld the characters, the voices, the

39:45

accents, the culture of that fictional

39:48

world is so, like

39:50

it has reverence for its influences

39:52

and shows in respectful ways. So like,

39:54

I know that they can do it. I know that they've done in the past.

39:57

So it makes those.

39:59

Lulls in 16 like a

40:02

little bit stick out a little bit more for me as well,

40:04

but

40:06

It's it's nothing short of having

40:08

incredible moments that

40:10

it does get right. Yeah, so

40:12

Couple more people get a little more complaints.

40:14

I've got Feel

40:17

like crafting just

40:20

feels really Non-essential

40:22

like I'm clear at best. Yeah,

40:25

and and it's not like most video

40:27

games where

40:29

you It just

40:31

feels like like they threw it in there because they

40:33

were told they had to have something like it

40:35

to gate You get yeah, and can't

40:37

have that until you do this. Yeah, so like

40:40

like crafting Like you don't even know what sort

40:42

of weapon you you want necessarily But

40:45

usually in games I go when I really want that

40:47

thing

40:48

But I need five of these boar hides.

40:50

Let me go try to get the let me kill a bunch

40:52

of boars and what's the drop

40:54

rate? Oh, I finally got the five boar hides. Let me go make

40:57

this this sword that I've been looking for

40:59

It just feels like it's kind of shoe

41:01

horned in there without really a whole

41:03

lot of reason like I Would

41:05

have liked an option to like mark

41:08

But certain materials and where you can find them on

41:11

the map because like I I feel very

41:13

secondary to the whole experience Yeah, it's like I for

41:15

me the crafting was

41:16

Essential for upgrading my weapon right and keep my

41:18

attack damage up or whatever, but it also just

41:21

wasn't Engaging like I was never thinking

41:23

about Materials right I'll just happen

41:25

to get back to the hub and go and talk to the guy

41:27

and I would have the thing that I'll need For that thing to you

41:29

know upgrade my weapon to the level that I needed

41:31

it But luckily I had it But if I didn't I

41:34

wasn't gonna go out and look for all because it

41:36

just isn't super clear in that way So I just

41:38

felt like that was pretty underwhelming of a system.

41:40

Can I give another a beef? I had go ahead

41:42

And maybe and honestly is this one of those things

41:44

that's so glaring that I might have missed it And

41:46

so let me know if I missed it. Is there not a mini map. There's

41:49

not It's it's really

41:51

unfortunate. It's really weird because this is a game

41:53

that fits so much for me I don't think they don't think

41:55

they had mini maps back in their day

41:59

Yeah, there's so many

42:02

times I was constantly just hitting the touch

42:04

pad to bring up the map. I'm like, why is it just

42:06

not a fall message and a mini map, man? It almost feels

42:08

like just an oversight because there's not really a

42:10

reason for it not to have a mini map for the kind of game, especially

42:13

when you're doing the side quests of the direction,

42:15

like the way in which like the directional

42:17

stuff works where you open up a map and you know where you need to go,

42:19

but then you go back to the game and it's like, because it shows

42:22

you, all right, I'm taking this turn over here. This turn over

42:24

here? This facing and then where the camera's from. Yeah. You

42:26

can't really get a good idea of like, okay, step

42:29

this way. Okay, that's

42:29

the direction I'm going to. Yeah, I feel you. I'm right there

42:32

with you, like on all everything you're saying where it's like the crafting

42:34

stuff to me definitely just like felt

42:37

like it didn't fully make sense and it didn't

42:39

feel like I understood what I was doing to benefit.

42:41

But I also think going to the side quests,

42:43

like I said, I did every single side quest

42:46

in this game. I

42:48

normally don't do that. I loved

42:50

how simple so many of them were. A

42:52

lot of it is, hey, take thing A to place

42:55

B and you get a little cut scene. I

42:57

loved how quick and digestible they are. And

42:59

I feel like they did such a good job of making

43:01

Clive feel like part of a world that

43:03

you're getting to know little by little that

43:06

after pushing through like the first 10 or so, I'm kind of

43:08

like, oh, this is kind of, this is all that they're going to be.

43:11

That's weird. By the time I did like 30 of

43:13

them and I'm getting even better

43:15

relationships with these characters by the end

43:17

of the game, I'm like, I'm so happy I did every single

43:19

side quest. It felt so rewarding

43:22

and getting every single thing, even if it was a dumb

43:24

little task, it felt like the right thing to do

43:27

as opposed to like, here's a mini game that you don't actually

43:29

want to play. It's like, cool. Let's

43:31

just keep it in the world. You always understand exactly what you're

43:33

trying to do. And it felt authentic to Clive and his

43:35

experience. But doing

43:38

the side quests got me better

43:40

weapons than the crafting ever would. So I never

43:42

even needed to touch the crafting. I got you

43:44

just doing the side quests, like kind of allows

43:46

you. It almost feels like that's the way the game

43:49

is designed is both from a story perspective

43:51

and from a progression perspective with

43:53

your equipment and gear. I really feel

43:55

like the side quests are like important

43:58

and way more valuable.

43:59

to do than trying to craft

44:02

things and go out and get the stuff, which is weird

44:04

to have that there. Yeah, that's why I kind

44:07

of feel like I wish it was just

44:09

done a completely different way. Like I just

44:11

pulled you straight up like this is the reward you'll get.

44:13

This year you'll get it. Do this side quest or do this

44:15

hunt and that you'll get a shout to the hunts, though. Oh,

44:18

the hunt. I love so much. Yeah,

44:21

explain with the hunt. So Hunter, essentially,

44:23

there's a high target

44:26

value, high value targets

44:28

out there and their enemies. And

44:31

the side quests are very, hey, here's

44:33

the quest.

44:34

Little blinkers are going to pop up, waypoints. You're going to

44:36

go to them. You know exactly what you're doing. The hunts are

44:38

more like, here's a semi-vague

44:41

explanation of who this dude is or beast

44:43

is or whatever and where they might be. And

44:45

then you can kind of look at the map and get an idea. You

44:47

need to go find it. And it really, I think, rewards

44:50

you to explore the map. The

44:51

only thing in the game that makes you explore the map. But

44:54

I have a great time doing that. Then

44:56

you find these things. And they are way

44:58

more challenging than normal bad guys.

45:00

Like mini boss fights. Those S rank hunts.

45:02

Oh, god. I accidentally ran into

45:04

it. I was looking for like a B rank hunt.

45:07

And my map wasn't all the way uncovered.

45:10

And so I was like, OK, it's telling me to go to this place. I don't

45:12

see this place on my map. I'm going to go this

45:14

direction because I haven't uncovered this part. So I go that direction.

45:17

I start to go down this path. And I'm like, oh, man, this

45:19

is like a big lead up to this mini boss mount to fight.

45:21

And then I get there and it's this fucking S

45:24

rank. That's level 50. Massive

45:27

tracking. I know which one to talk about. And I'm like,

45:29

oh, shit. Here we go. That was legit

45:31

for a second. I was like, oh, maybe I can throw hands. And then

45:33

it did like two of his moves. And I was like,

45:35

I'm out of here. Swing that tail. You'll

45:37

be back, though. Oh, yeah. I'll be back. I'm almost

45:39

there. You get your new abilities and stuff.

45:41

And you just want to go back and you make that

45:43

mental note. And then once you see them once, they do pop

45:45

up on your map. So it's like, oh, I know where

45:48

you are. Did all those all the hunts

45:50

were great, like the best ranked ones.

45:53

So it's kind of going back to

45:55

the crafting system because the hunts are so important

45:57

to get the materials necessary. I was always able

45:59

to.

45:59

to get the best

46:02

gear and the moment that they popped up at the blacksmith.

46:05

And I,

46:06

then that's because I, every time I saw SideQuest, I did

46:08

it. Every time I saw a new hunt on the board, I did

46:11

it also. So I ended up having the things that you

46:13

needed to get those things. I just wish

46:15

that the game was a little bit more explicit about telling

46:17

you, it's like, like I said, how to get

46:19

that. Emphasizing that those

46:21

things are important if you want the thing. Cause

46:23

I like, I had the best sword, I

46:25

had the best belt,

46:27

best everything.

46:28

Because I ran into them by

46:30

happenstance, rather than being like, oh,

46:33

okay, I'm going to farm here or whatever. So

46:36

yeah. Speaking of farming and stuff,

46:38

I love that this game, the bloat

46:40

is just not there. All the Final Fantasy kind

46:42

of the lulz, the normal things you have to do.

46:45

It's just kind of like, nah, man, they really, I

46:47

love that there's not boxes everywhere that you need

46:49

to kind of like break open, hoping there's some gill

46:51

in it or something. It's like, you're just, you're

46:54

running around, you know exactly where treasure

46:56

is. Cause it's very clear, you get it. There's

46:58

two gill,

46:58

thanks for nothing. Yeah, exactly.

47:01

I just feel like there's just a, like I complained

47:03

a lot in 15 and especially in seven,

47:06

that there'd be a box and you're trying to get

47:09

it and the prompt for hit X

47:11

will pop up. And it's like, you can never

47:13

just quite get it right. Every time you open a treasure

47:15

chest, it requires you to hit X

47:17

three times instead of one and multiply

47:20

that over a hundred hours. It's like, oh my

47:22

Lord, this game just doesn't have that. This game just like,

47:25

it, because it's designed in the way that

47:27

it is, I feel like it's so many little

47:29

quality of life stuff that just kind of make

47:31

it this like amazing experience. Yeah,

47:33

very focused, very focused. And I'm

47:36

a big linear fan. This is a very linear game. Very

47:38

linear game. Until there's moments where you realize

47:41

how open and connected it actually is, like

47:43

through some of the side quests and through like, wait

47:45

a minute,

47:46

like, cause you've been fast traveled from the beginning, right? And

47:49

so when you're fast traveling, you don't really realize the

47:51

relation of the places. The more you start

47:53

playing, when you're, you fast travel somewhere

47:55

and then you take a left and you're like,

47:57

oh wait, that connects to that place? And

47:59

you're like. Holy crap, all these linear things

48:01

actually connect? That stuff really blew

48:04

my mind. Oh, I'm right there with you. The

48:06

mini map looks so good. One of the- Oh,

48:08

the map. Just like, I mean- The map tilt shift. During

48:10

the demo, we didn't have a whole lot of, oh yeah,

48:13

yeah, not mini map. During the

48:15

demo, there wasn't a whole lot of way,

48:17

like you'd open

48:19

up the map and not a whole lot of it is uncovered, but

48:21

like being able to see the tiny little

48:23

versions of these gigantic mother

48:25

crystals that are massive in the real world, but

48:28

they're a little tiny and cute here. I

48:30

love the visuals. The UI in general,

48:32

I think looks fantastic. It was probably one of my favorite

48:35

looking UIs. I mean, I'm sure there's things about navigating

48:37

it that could be better, but when you finish a

48:39

battle and it gives you

48:41

the result screen and it does all the cool transitions

48:44

and fades and all this, I think it looks

48:46

spectacular. I'm gonna go a bit against

48:48

that. And I know

48:50

that this is kind of

48:52

the, this seems like the Final Fantasy that a lot of people

48:55

hate and online being like, it's

48:57

not Final Fantasy enough, right? I

49:00

feel like one extra thing they could have changed in

49:02

here is just sometimes that, hey,

49:06

Tim Getty slain, that screen

49:08

can sometimes underscore the

49:11

moment for me. Oh, sure, yeah. Not every

49:13

time. Like there are some times where I don't mind seeing

49:15

that, pfft, na na na na na na na na na na

49:17

na na na na na na na. And then XP, XP items,

49:20

I don't like,

49:21

I don't hate it every time, but there are some times I'm

49:23

like, I kind of wish that like this cutscene would

49:25

just end and

49:27

as the game continues, you see what I

49:29

just got from this battle. I just don't

49:32

always love that screen kind of

49:34

like sometimes spoiling the end of a fight as

49:36

well. Let's talk

49:39

later. I got some dots on this thing.

49:41

I don't wanna say right now. Like, yo, I just slayed this guy I've

49:43

been hunting for 20 years and was like, oh, but I

49:45

got XP and some crafting materials. I do

49:47

it. Yeah, yeah. I just like how it looks on just the graphic design.

49:50

Oh, it looks great. Oh, sure, yeah. that

49:52

could even be like real time because it does pause the action. I don't

49:54

mind it as much, but I understand what

49:57

you're saying. Yeah,

49:57

like, you know, I don't hate it a hundred percent

49:59

of the time.

49:59

There was a lot of cool moments where it pauses

50:02

and that perfect moment and your character's doing something.

50:04

Because I'm even talking about the pause screen, too, of

50:07

when you go to the different menus and just

50:09

how everything's laid out and how it looks visually.

50:12

I just really like how you like it. You shift around

50:14

Clive, too, like you swap the menus. And

50:16

I

50:16

noticed that I wasn't the

50:19

only one necessarily feeling that way, because when

50:21

we were watching Stonebike Mike do the demo with

50:24

Ben, the voice of Clive,

50:27

during that initial icon fight,

50:29

it goes, boom, whatever,

50:32

slain. And Mike

50:34

goes, oh, it's over?

50:36

And it's like, yeah, it kind of tells you that it's over.

50:39

You did it, even though there was still some health bar

50:41

left. So I don't hate

50:43

it all the time. It's just some moments that it kind of bums me out.

50:46

And I really can't wait for when

50:48

this game eventually comes to PC and gets a mod.

50:50

Because in Tears of the Kingdom, you

50:53

can download a mod that

50:55

removes the Zelda

50:58

telling you every time that a Blood

51:00

Moon rises. And it just removes that

51:03

interruption every time. It doesn't

51:05

play the video. It just goes on. I would

51:07

love to get a mod that removes every

51:10

time I accept the side quest.

51:13

And Clive stands there and, do you want

51:16

to prioritize this?

51:18

I do want to prioritize this. It's like homey. I'm

51:21

so tired of just that little cut scene that only

51:23

lasts two seconds, but you've seen it enough. And

51:25

it's like, come on, man. Let's give them a fucking.

51:28

My biggest nitpick for the game, for sure,

51:31

is the lack of pure button

51:33

customization. I don't understand for a

51:35

game like this how you have to choose

51:37

between a couple control types. And none of the control

51:39

types are exactly what I want them to be. I

51:42

do have the DualSense Edge. That was

51:43

a lifesaver able to customize

51:46

that way. And it was great. But even

51:49

beyond that, though, the different icon abilities,

51:51

essentially, you have your square and triangle that you

51:53

can remap however you want. And what I appreciate

51:55

about it is they really let you

51:58

remap those however you want.

51:59

even if it doesn't make sense. You might have, I'm

52:02

just gonna use vague terms here, blue guy

52:04

powers, but you can map yellow guy

52:06

powers to the face buttons even

52:09

for your blue guy power set, which

52:11

is very cool. Like let's say, you don't

52:13

want to have

52:18

yellow guy

52:20

triangle power, but you really like blue guy power

52:22

so much that you want it twice on blue guy and on

52:24

yellow guy. You can map that. The circle

52:27

ability that each

52:28

of the colored guys has,

52:31

oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

52:33

whoa, whoa. The mic's on, okay, the mic's

52:35

on. God

52:38

damn it. You know what you mean. You know what

52:41

you're talking about. Three of these.

52:45

The circle button is like a different ability

52:47

that is less of an attack, more

52:49

of like the first one you have is the Phoenix

52:52

shift. A utility thing where- I'm gonna dodge. You're

52:54

essentially dodge, you like kind of like move forward.

52:56

It's a momentum dash. Dash is the right word. It's

52:58

a dash. And some of

53:00

the other icons have a dash ability and

53:02

then some of them just straight up don't. And

53:05

you cannot remap that circle ability.

53:07

And if it were up to me, I would just keep the dash

53:10

for all of them because I don't

53:12

like the other ones. And there are certain other

53:14

ones, whatever, whatever. I don't want to get too much into shit. But like

53:16

there are certain ones that I'm like, I like your power set overall,

53:19

but I do not like your circle ability. I

53:21

like that level of I gotta choose. Like I gotta

53:23

really customize and figure it out. Cause that's where I was

53:25

in like the last 10 hours of the game where I

53:28

sat in my skill tree and it was just like, all

53:30

right, which of my moves, like first of all,

53:32

I reset all my points because you can do that at any point.

53:34

And it's like, oh, it's fantastic. Because I

53:36

was like, oh fuck, I really want this ability. And I was like, wait a second. I

53:39

can, I can have that. I just gotta reset my ability.

53:41

So I pay that. No penalty at all. No penalty

53:43

at all. Super nice quality. Reset your attributes

53:45

at any moment. And I did that and I sat there

53:47

and I was like, all right, which of my abilities

53:50

am I gonna master so that I can have this

53:52

equipped to like this specific icon

53:55

set so that I can use this

53:57

move with this icon while having

53:59

like.

53:59

this utility ability and

54:02

that rhymes a really weird way. And

54:04

like

54:05

I found such a satisfying move

54:08

set towards the end of the game where I like I

54:11

perfected it and like I had to give up some

54:13

things but I enjoyed that as

54:15

part of the experience with customizing my move set

54:17

because at the end of the day and once I got it to where I wanted to be I

54:19

felt

54:20

unstoppable in a really cool way. And it

54:22

really personifies the icons themselves

54:25

like, oh, you have to equip this ability like you have to stick

54:27

with that circle feet

54:28

and

54:30

when I have those icons

54:33

equipped like, oh,

54:34

that icon has got my back. I have their power.

54:36

So I'm gonna do this fight with them

54:39

at my back. And it kind of

54:40

makes up for the fact that you don't have a party.

54:42

And it definitely gives you like,

54:45

oh, I can like an octopat traveler too.

54:47

I love the level of customization party.

54:50

What's

54:50

up? Yeah, your dog shots. My boy, Torgo.

54:52

Oh, Torgo. Yeah, that's the auto

54:54

attack. I was like, my dogs like we don't got a

54:56

dog. We're not allowed to have dogs at our apartment. But

55:00

yeah, the way those icons and Torgo

55:02

like

55:03

makes up for the fact that you don't have a party

55:05

and gives you that level of RPG customization

55:08

that you might be looking for in

55:10

this game. So it's just not straight up action.

55:13

I appreciate how it evolves over time because I, one

55:15

of my nitpicks early on that fell

55:17

away was in combat, I would

55:19

get into the flow of, all right, let's spend

55:22

all these abilities because all of them are on the cooldown.

55:24

And so I like, you know, I go up, I press,

55:26

what is it, R2? Yeah, R2

55:29

triangle, R2 square, switch icon,

55:31

R2 triangle, R2 square. All right, let's

55:33

hack until it cools down. Once you get further in

55:35

the game and you start to get the other utility abilities,

55:38

the way that can evolve, because it starts

55:40

off with Phoenix shift, right? And like, of course I'm not gonna spoil

55:42

anything, but the ways, it starts off

55:44

with Phoenix shift. The second one you get is like kind of

55:46

similar to Phoenix shift in the way that like closes distance.

55:49

From there, they get really creative with what those

55:51

things can do. And yeah, like the last

55:53

two I got, I was like, dude, this is awesome because

55:55

now I'm fighting in a completely different way than I was

55:57

before. I know I'm like, you know, me.

55:59

maybe a third or halfway through,

56:02

but I loved the

56:04

evolutions that I've seen

56:07

in the most recent icon fight

56:09

from how it has

56:11

completely

56:13

changed and elevated itself from the

56:15

first couple. Because the first couple,

56:18

beautiful to look at, stunning,

56:22

expensive looking. We're talking visuals

56:24

that you've never seen in your life in a video game.

56:27

And the gameplay, pretty bleh, pretty mid. But

56:31

I think that now that I'm about a

56:34

couple more deep into it,

56:36

they are getting much more involved now and

56:39

they feel a lot more fun than

56:41

they did at the beginning. So I know

56:43

there's a lot of people that are like, oh, these look cool, but they're

56:45

kind of not fun to play. They

56:47

got

56:48

more fun for me as they keep on going.

56:50

To that point too, everything that we

56:52

were saying earlier, I think last year we were saying that in the beginning

56:55

of the game, it's so simple. It is just kind of

56:57

hit square. And even with the icon abilities, once you get a

56:59

couple, you are just kind of cycling through these moves.

57:01

Like, all right, where's the depth here? Then

57:04

all of a sudden it's like, oh, there's the depth. And it doesn't stop

57:06

and it keeps getting deeper. I can't believe the icon battles.

57:08

It's the same thing. The first, the

57:11

demo that people have played, it's like, those

57:13

icon fights, it's like, all right. They're

57:15

cool, but everyone's

57:18

gonna be a

57:18

kind of different gimmick and sure, I get it. You don't

57:20

get it. It's exactly like the combat. They

57:22

ain't seen nothing yet. It just keeps adding

57:24

and it keeps building from a gameplay perspective

57:27

where it's like, oh, okay, I see

57:29

what y'all were doing. And I just am so impressed

57:31

that this game, in every single vertical,

57:33

whether it's the characters, the story, the

57:35

gameplay of icons, the gameplay of just

57:38

normal battle, it just gets better as

57:40

it goes on. And it's like, any time I'm kind

57:42

of like, huh, I feel like it's a little lacking

57:45

in the antagonist or

57:47

a little lacking into this or a little like it. They said

57:50

bet. They're like, oh, yeah, a lot. A lot. And

57:52

it just delivered. I wanna shout

57:54

out a few more things. The performances

57:57

are fantastic. Shout out to my

57:59

favorite character, Sid.

57:59

Like his his performance Ralph

58:02

absolutely destroys it and like

58:04

God his voice is so goddamn good But then also

58:07

shout out to the homie Ben stars Clive, you

58:09

know Clive at the beginning I think we talked about this on shows

58:11

before where it's like, okay like this guy I

58:13

mean he seems alright, but he's no cloud

58:15

like oh his name's Clive Okay, let's see what this is

58:18

and in the beginning I was like, alright,

58:20

like, you know He's a he's a manly gruff dude

58:22

and over time like the way that which

58:24

they evolve his character his motivations all

58:27

that But even the performance that Ben puts

58:29

into the character I think shines through and in moments

58:31

where it is

58:32

Clive has to be emotional and the

58:34

way in which they actually deliver on that right and

58:36

Ben's performance delivers on that I think is Fantastic

58:39

and something that should be commended Like I really hope

58:41

to see like end of year stuff happen

58:43

for him and his character. Oh it will

58:46

like We were talking about this this

58:48

game is gonna win best narrative But I don't think

58:50

that there's even a chance that it doesn't and I

58:52

think that when it comes to performances like

58:54

my god Like the anyone in this game. I feel

58:57

like you could put there but talking about Clive

58:59

in particular I love how

59:01

grounded like I feel like we keep talking about this where it's like

59:03

this game is as

59:04

wacky and wild as it can get it all

59:07

comes back to these characters these grounded real characters

59:09

that Relate to each other in real

59:11

ways that we can understand that

59:13

all goes back to Clive and I feel like all the

59:15

little side quests Endearing yourself to these

59:18

communities learning the stories of different characters

59:20

and how it relates to him He is what I

59:22

love most about Optimus Prime. He is

59:24

a loyal leader that he's gonna be out

59:26

there But

59:31

no, it's like it's it's this thing where it's just like

59:33

he's just a good dude

59:34

and that could be a boring character

59:37

or It can be an incredibly

59:39

well-developed character and I'm

59:41

because the writing is so good and the performances are good

59:43

It's that it is the latter there It is such

59:46

a like there is goodness there and I

59:48

feel like that it is a true hero character

59:51

And it reminds me of like a Geralt almost

59:53

right like the way that people take to Geralt and actually like

59:56

how iconic that character Feels in our

59:58

RPG culture, I guess

59:59

Clive feels like another one of those where

1:00:02

it's like oh, I'm gonna remember this guy because

1:00:04

his interactions that he has with

1:00:06

The everyday people of this world feel genuine

1:00:09

and he is like

1:00:10

He is just so well written and well performed

1:00:12

in a way where I'm like, I just really like this He's

1:00:15

all the level for me of Arthur Morgan

1:00:17

and Red Dead 2. Oh sure. Yeah, I

1:00:19

think it starts off in a very

1:00:22

Sort of you know quiet

1:00:24

dude kind of not a whole lot

1:00:26

of personality But through

1:00:29

the experiences that he's having

1:00:32

You start to feel for him a lot more and

1:00:35

you also start to notice the nuances and

1:00:37

different emotions that he showcases and it's

1:00:39

always like

1:00:41

You know, I he has just shell over

1:00:43

him because he's so protective of who he is

1:00:46

and I think all that stuff opens

1:00:48

up in such a beautiful way and it's so

1:00:51

again incredibly performed and

1:00:53

through these cutscenes just greatly

1:00:55

animated with

1:00:56

The mixture of the mocap stuff with kind

1:00:58

of them do you know the art animators

1:01:01

have to go in there and retouch a lot of These things I think they

1:01:03

do a phenomenal job of it One thing that

1:01:05

follow fantasy is known for is its main cast

1:01:07

of characters like the party, right? And it's like there's

1:01:09

usually the main character maybe sometimes two

1:01:11

main characters And then there's like the core supporting

1:01:14

cast and then there's side characters the

1:01:16

NPCs that are just around the people in the towns Or

1:01:18

whatever it is I feel like with this game

1:01:21

the Clive being the like singular

1:01:23

main character and how much they put into that

1:01:26

and how Everything

1:01:26

else is just happening to and around

1:01:29

him by the end of the game I feel

1:01:31

like like I mean, I love Sid so much. It's

1:01:33

my God. Yeah Jill

1:01:35

I I love overall, but I do

1:01:37

feel like I wish she had like a little bit more

1:01:39

to do Here and there but

1:01:42

at the end of the game I can't believe

1:01:44

that the real stars of the show to me are

1:01:47

those NPC characters. Oh, it is the

1:01:50

Dude who the hell would have thought

1:01:52

that like these random little side characters

1:01:54

would mean anything But the writing that

1:01:56

the quest lines are so impressive when

1:01:58

you follow them through to the end of

1:02:01

the character arcs and growth that these

1:02:04

characters that when they first show up, you're like, oh,

1:02:06

you might not even have a line.

1:02:07

But then by the end of it, you're like, I watched you in

1:02:10

probably an hour and a half before the cut scenes and

1:02:12

like, I am moved by your story and

1:02:15

how your story relates to everyone else's story.

1:02:17

Like it's- It feels almost like the persona, confront

1:02:19

links without formalizing it in a way, right?

1:02:22

Because those are, those side quests are chains too.

1:02:24

Like they- Yeah. They,

1:02:26

you have to do the one before that to get to the next

1:02:28

one. Yeah, it doesn't gamify that. I

1:02:31

mean, sometimes it'll mark the same quest name with like a two

1:02:33

or three or four. And so you know that that's a continuation

1:02:36

of what you've already done. And having seen all

1:02:38

that, all that stuff through, I'm like, oh,

1:02:41

late, like Karen is one of- Oh my God,

1:02:43

my girl Karen. Yo, shout out to Karen. Salute.

1:02:46

Oh my God, yeah, she's a real one. She's one of the

1:02:48

realest ones. And the- You

1:02:50

think it'll be a redemption for the name Karen?

1:02:53

Well, it's spelled differently. It's like CH.

1:02:55

It's spelled with CH. Who would have saw that coming?

1:02:57

Yeah. It's

1:03:00

like the opposite of a Karen. Yeah, she's a badass

1:03:02

bro. Holy shit. She's the one who sells you everything. And

1:03:04

like- Some of my favorite characters, we can't even

1:03:07

talk about here. Yeah. Oh, well, yeah.

1:03:09

But yeah, across the board, I think the main

1:03:11

cast is

1:03:12

who I identify with the most. And

1:03:14

I mean,

1:03:16

you can mention like, cause I mean,

1:03:18

the promotional material, they have all of the

1:03:20

dominance, right? Like

1:03:23

Dionne, I think is one of

1:03:25

the-

1:03:26

I'm not gonna say underrated because the game hasn't even come out yet,

1:03:28

right? But he is, I love

1:03:31

him dearly. Now, I don't know people talking about this,

1:03:33

Dionne. This Dionne guy, you know what I'm saying? Dionne,

1:03:35

keep an eye on him. He's a rising star. He's up

1:03:38

there. Get him off waivers. Dionne

1:03:41

is like, he's one of the characters who

1:03:43

isn't necessarily prominent because his role in the story

1:03:45

is gets a little, you have to get a little bit deeper to see who

1:03:47

he is. But I think that his evolution,

1:03:50

his

1:03:51

arc is very powerful as well. And

1:03:54

that's because of the performance. That's because of the position that he's put

1:03:56

in. It goes back to that theme of what

1:03:59

do these characters-

1:03:59

do when they're pushed to the edge, when

1:04:02

their humanity is on the line, what really

1:04:04

matters to them most? How do they find redemption

1:04:06

after seeing all this bad shit happen?

1:04:08

And so it's a combination of the writing,

1:04:10

the performances, and just

1:04:13

the arcs that they go through. And I think that

1:04:15

is the thing that's gonna stick out most for

1:04:17

me

1:04:18

with 16. And I think the

1:04:20

boss battles are fucking incredible. They're

1:04:22

really well designed. I mean, playing

1:04:24

a lot of Final Fantasy XIV, I

1:04:27

see, I see the mechanics, I see what are

1:04:29

y'all doing. I've savaged Raid. I know

1:04:31

how to dodge those AOEs, but damn does it

1:04:33

feel good when you're doing in a stylish action game. So

1:04:35

I'll remember those moments for sure. Like

1:04:38

some of my, ooh, dodge, getting the perfect dodges. You

1:04:40

know, I racked up like 12

1:04:42

perfect dodges on a big ass

1:04:44

dragon. Y'all can't fuck with me, man. The fact that

1:04:46

this is an action RPG, but

1:04:48

I am going into the challenge stuff

1:04:51

like it is just a pure stylish action

1:04:53

game, and I'm going for the scores and enjoying

1:04:55

that stuff. Like that's such an achievement for

1:04:58

this game. And yeah, like the bosses are so good. And at the

1:05:00

end of the day,

1:05:01

this game has heart. So much. That's

1:05:03

what matters most in a Final Fantasy.

1:05:05

Amen. We're gonna be talking about this game

1:05:07

a lot. I have a feeling over the rest of

1:05:10

this year and probably for the rest of our

1:05:12

lives, I will say, Andy, I've said

1:05:14

this to you before, I need you to record

1:05:16

you playing like

1:05:17

the last three, four hours of this

1:05:20

game, because I need to relive it. It

1:05:22

is something that is, I've never seen before.

1:05:25

Like the last couple hours of this game

1:05:27

are

1:05:28

just so, so damn good.

1:05:30

I have a lot more to go. And

1:05:32

you have a lot more hype moments in between too. And again,

1:05:34

it's not even just hype. It is heart. It is so

1:05:36

much just coming together to like really

1:05:39

accomplish the vision that they set out for. So

1:05:42

let us know in the comments below how excited you are

1:05:44

for Final Fantasy 16. Michael,

1:05:47

where can people find you? Ooh, you can find me and

1:05:49

all of my bullshit at Michael P. Hyam on Twitter.

1:05:51

And you can check out my full written review on

1:05:53

gamespot.com for Final Fantasy 16. And

1:05:56

check out the video review on our YouTube page as

1:05:58

well. Until next

1:06:00

time, love y'all. Bye. Peace.

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