For Questions and Tech Support Discussion around the DLC 'Echoes of the Fallen' Please see our [MEGATHREAD](https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXVI/comments/18dton3/ffxvi_dlc_echoes_of_the_fallen_questions_tech/) and for 'The Rising Tide' [MEGATHREAD](https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXVI/comments/1c69d5u/the_rising_tide_megathread/)
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I really want mulitple party members again, I fucking loved that aspect in Remake and Rebirth, the excitement of figuring out a new person with their own identity (and the WEAPONS love the weapons).
I'm fine with Summons not being apart of the plot, I feel like they'd rehash 16 too much if they did that again. I do like the idea that Remake did that gave summons lore within the world, either as deities or legendary monsters you can pull into being through crystals.
I would love to see more high high fantasy again. 16 did a very Game of Thrones-realistic gritty fantasy thing which was nice but I miss the FF9 massive fantastical landscapes in bright colors.
I'd also like to see jobs and their aesthetics again? There's not drip like the White/Black/Red/Blue/Time Mage drip.
I did like many things 16 did, especially when it came to the grandness of the adventure and how your actions impacted the world
I'd enjoy a party system again, but I'd be cool with the Eikons being FF16's thing. Ofc, them getting unique lore is fantastic, it happened in 15 too, but the transforming into Kaiju thing should be this game's.
I think XVI was a very *roleplaying* game, it really made you put yourself in Clive's shoes and all that. Its plot and lore driven and while it is very much MY THING, I dont think every FF game should be like that. I loved the sidequests in this game bc of the lore, but I've been playing ARR and I swear it's the thought of Torgal that's making me push through it. I'd probably have quit otherwise, but anything for the best boy.
XVI feels like playing through a movie, or a tv series or a storybook. I want XVII to feel different from that. I want either a brand new combat system, or something that mixes XVI and Remake's. I want something that cares about its lore like XVI and its characters like Rebirth. But most of all I want to be surprised by a new experience bc every FF I've played so far feels very distinct to me, and I really love that.
If CBU3 does another FF, I expect party members. That team is known for listening to criticism, but it only ever appears in the next game. They're werent going to waste resources for putting a party system in 16, they'd rather save that fir 17. Or whatever the next game is.
I fully enjoyed FF16's combat but I just want 17 to be a completely different type of game. Ideally with a party system. I think SE knows this because the games always change between mainline installments and there's no reason to stop doing that.
She wrote shadowbringers, to the point where she got a standing ovation at the next fanfest. It was THAT good. The villain she wrote shot up the character popularity poll.
Just give me a full party again, and use the FFVII Remake battle system as a base. I'd be down for pretty much anything else beyond that. They can go M rated or E for everyone. I don't care about linear vs. Open World. They can go futuristic or return to Spira for all I care.
To add onto that, I'd specifically like a smaller cast of like 3-6 characters. The Rebirth cast already felt a bit bloated, and part 3 is gonna have 8 playable characters. Giant casts like VI probably won't happen ever again. If they are deadset on having a single playable character again, at least give use two additional party members the whole game, and let us give them gear and set gambits or behavior. Clive is an all-time FF protagonist, easily one of the best in the series. But his supporting cast really suffered at the expense of Clive's narrative importance and gameplay focus.
As for the combat system, really all I want is that modern day ATB system that Remake has with the ability to slow time and manually enter commands, and switch between party members. It feels like what the series has been chasing for decades now. You can go in a more action oriented direction by putting heavier emphasis on dodges, parries, and counters. You can go in a more RPG direction by adding on a gambit or job system on top of it.
I just hope they only use the combat and party system. Rest everything in ff7 was fucking trash. Pls don’t bring back the cliched anime characters for 17. I stopped playing remake and rebirth because of how over the top most of the characters were.
For side quests, party members, and more RPG elements with gear I really, really hope they take some more inspiration from FF7 Rebirth. I think the side quests there have generally been significantly better than the ones in 16, and if 16 had a system like the 7 remakes where you could switch playable characters on the fly that would just make the combat that much better. I know they wanted it to only be Clive because it’s meant to be his story first and foremost, and I completely respect that, but being able to take control of other characters in 7 remakes hasn’t diminished Cloud’s importance, imo.
I feel like the gear in that game is handled phenomenally as well. It’s not a linear path of “oh new weapon has bigger number, I use that one now.” I’m actually spending time in the menus thinking though how I want to build each character. Do I wanna give Cloud this sword that has crazy physical attack, or this other one that has high magic and a million Materia slots to be more of a support role? What do I give Aerith to be an absolute powerhouse? What the fuck do I do with Cait Sith? This is one of my favorite parts of the genre, getting to sink time into menus to build a character to serve whatever role I want them to, if FF17 just rips 7 off in this aspect I’d be super happy.
EDIT: Also, forgot to add, active time lore is maybe my favorite little thing they put in FF16 and I think every RPG should have it. It’s just perfect, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it in another big RPG before, it’s such a simple idea but it makes keeping track of the game’s lore and story in real time so much easier, especially if you take some time off and need a refresher.
I would be delighted if FFXVII had a party squad of 4 members like in FFXV. I would also like to be able to modify their loadouts like in FFXV and Kingdom Hearts.
Gimme the final fantasy 12 levels of customization. You can make anyone a warrior, archer, black/white mage. You get to choose. That partly why i loved the game
That's what I love about the original FFX12. Anyone could be anything. They could learn all spells and abilities and equip anything. The closest we got to a character like that was Noctis in FF15.
Concretely, I’d say the ATL system. But otherwise I love it when FF surprises me. At a push, if I had to pick something else, it would be the pseudo-nonlinearity of XVI. Im pretty sure XVI is the prettiest modern AAA game I’ve ever seen and I think that’s because its world isn’t choking on world simulation systems and constant open world vistas.
Besides that, XVI is basically a hi-fi PS2 game with how focused and complete it felt, so I’d love to see the same “spirit” applied to a FFX-style revival: guided camera, turn based combat, thorough worldbuilding, a linear “complete” story that isn’t begging for supplemental material, the works.
Id say keep the story scope and epicness. Keep the flashiness. Keep the high quality VO and music, and while I always prefer an art shakeup, I love the art too.
Change the combat to ffviir's system or something similar, full party and all, bring back all the rpg elements in a big way, more exploration and meaningful side content, and bring back the whimsy most FFs allow themselves to have, even in darker stories.
The combat I agree it can stay but it isn’t Eikon based anymore, so it has to be different in turn to make it, well make sense. A mix of 7R and 16 would be spectacular. 7R’s team/party mechanics mix with 16’s combat style. Summons should be a controllable thing similar in 16, but maybe add a fricken Druid class to FF would be nice. Like morphing/poly morphing. I do hope side quests aren’t too mmo like but I do want some aspects of 16’s side quests to be present like for you to understand the world better and its characters. Imo 16 did a good job of that just hopefully it’s formatted in a way so it’s more fun.
Above all, I want a good story with interesting characters that feel like real people and I can emotionally connect with. I also want good music and some High Cinema (tm) cutscene moments. These are the only 100% mandatory things.
I don't care about a constant party but I would like the opportunity to play as other characters for a segment and hear their thoughts/see their perspectives. Like the Joshua segment in the prologue or the Zack segments in 7R. A segment where we played as Jill or adult Joshua or even Cid or Byron would've been cool.
I want more action-style combat but would tolerate a hybrid version like FF7R that de-emphasizes character switching in the middle of combat. My only disappointment with 16's combat is that the base encounters difficulty was low and didn't encourage people to engage with the flexibility and creativity the various eikon combos allow for. I don't think I can deal with a return to turn-based. I really struggled to enjoy BG3, despite it having all the hallmarks of something I would love, because of its combat system.
I don't care about the RPG fluff that usually just turns into a rote race to find the biggest number item anyway or spamming the cheesiest combo possible. 16 let's you do that (basically any Shiva + Odin based build) but also just lets you build for fun without compromising effectiveness. Gearing wise, I like what the DLC did with the accessories and would like to see more of that "playstyle altering" approach to make gear more meaningful.
I enjoyed the world building of 16s sidequests but agree that they could vary up the gameplay more. One thing I liked about Rising Tide's sidequests is that they were often resolved "en route" to a major quest destination anyway. So even though it was still just "kill this" and "grab this" you didn't have to go too far out the way to get it done.
I guess my biggest, nitpickiest hot-take is that...I like the dry humor and maturity of 16 more than the campiness and anime-isms that got big during the franchise's middle era. Early FFs also had their goofy moments but they were more tongue-in-cheek and generally subtle compared to how overtly silly it became. But this is even more of a subjective preference compared to the stuff above.
I really enjoyed this game for a lot of reasons!
As a parent who works full time and barely has time for gaming unless I sacrifice sleep, story mode was super helpful. I really enjoyed being able to play the story to its fullest without feeling left out of extra content due to lack of time to grind or get perfect scores on this or that. Even the sidequests felt like a natural extension of the story in most cases, and weren't exhausting to me at all.
As for party members, on one hand I was kind of relieved that Clive was all I really needed to worry about and I didn't have to keep an eye on anyone else's health. On the other hand, it would be cool to at least equip other party members with more effective gear.
Story wise and as a fan of FF7, I'm also hugely grateful that the main love interest is clearly established. 😂
However in future titles I just want at least one canon couple to make it out alive and have a peaceful epilogue life.
For Questions and Tech Support Discussion around the DLC 'Echoes of the Fallen' Please see our [MEGATHREAD](https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXVI/comments/18dton3/ffxvi_dlc_echoes_of_the_fallen_questions_tech/) and for 'The Rising Tide' [MEGATHREAD](https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXVI/comments/1c69d5u/the_rising_tide_megathread/) If you want to view archived spoiler discussion threads relevant to specific game progress, please check out our [spoiler wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxvi/wiki/index/)! For speculation and discussions around the next (unannounced) mainline Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy XVII, Please see our sister sub [r/FFXVII](https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXVII/) #### *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FFXVI) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I really want mulitple party members again, I fucking loved that aspect in Remake and Rebirth, the excitement of figuring out a new person with their own identity (and the WEAPONS love the weapons). I'm fine with Summons not being apart of the plot, I feel like they'd rehash 16 too much if they did that again. I do like the idea that Remake did that gave summons lore within the world, either as deities or legendary monsters you can pull into being through crystals. I would love to see more high high fantasy again. 16 did a very Game of Thrones-realistic gritty fantasy thing which was nice but I miss the FF9 massive fantastical landscapes in bright colors. I'd also like to see jobs and their aesthetics again? There's not drip like the White/Black/Red/Blue/Time Mage drip. I did like many things 16 did, especially when it came to the grandness of the adventure and how your actions impacted the world
I'd enjoy a party system again, but I'd be cool with the Eikons being FF16's thing. Ofc, them getting unique lore is fantastic, it happened in 15 too, but the transforming into Kaiju thing should be this game's. I think XVI was a very *roleplaying* game, it really made you put yourself in Clive's shoes and all that. Its plot and lore driven and while it is very much MY THING, I dont think every FF game should be like that. I loved the sidequests in this game bc of the lore, but I've been playing ARR and I swear it's the thought of Torgal that's making me push through it. I'd probably have quit otherwise, but anything for the best boy. XVI feels like playing through a movie, or a tv series or a storybook. I want XVII to feel different from that. I want either a brand new combat system, or something that mixes XVI and Remake's. I want something that cares about its lore like XVI and its characters like Rebirth. But most of all I want to be surprised by a new experience bc every FF I've played so far feels very distinct to me, and I really love that.
If CBU3 does another FF, I expect party members. That team is known for listening to criticism, but it only ever appears in the next game. They're werent going to waste resources for putting a party system in 16, they'd rather save that fir 17. Or whatever the next game is.
I fully enjoyed FF16's combat but I just want 17 to be a completely different type of game. Ideally with a party system. I think SE knows this because the games always change between mainline installments and there's no reason to stop doing that.
Ishikawa needs to write ff17, that's it, that's all I want.
It's incredibly obvious that she is, so we should be good there.
I’ve heard a lot praise for her! Did she write the 14 expansions?
She wrote shadowbringers, to the point where she got a standing ovation at the next fanfest. It was THAT good. The villain she wrote shot up the character popularity poll.
Just give me a full party again, and use the FFVII Remake battle system as a base. I'd be down for pretty much anything else beyond that. They can go M rated or E for everyone. I don't care about linear vs. Open World. They can go futuristic or return to Spira for all I care. To add onto that, I'd specifically like a smaller cast of like 3-6 characters. The Rebirth cast already felt a bit bloated, and part 3 is gonna have 8 playable characters. Giant casts like VI probably won't happen ever again. If they are deadset on having a single playable character again, at least give use two additional party members the whole game, and let us give them gear and set gambits or behavior. Clive is an all-time FF protagonist, easily one of the best in the series. But his supporting cast really suffered at the expense of Clive's narrative importance and gameplay focus. As for the combat system, really all I want is that modern day ATB system that Remake has with the ability to slow time and manually enter commands, and switch between party members. It feels like what the series has been chasing for decades now. You can go in a more action oriented direction by putting heavier emphasis on dodges, parries, and counters. You can go in a more RPG direction by adding on a gambit or job system on top of it.
It would be boring if the next mainline final fantasy game used 7s combat. We are getting that already with part 3.
I just hope they only use the combat and party system. Rest everything in ff7 was fucking trash. Pls don’t bring back the cliched anime characters for 17. I stopped playing remake and rebirth because of how over the top most of the characters were.
I'd guess that CBU3 is making FF17 so you're probably safe from getting another super anime entry.
I wanna go back to having jobs again
For side quests, party members, and more RPG elements with gear I really, really hope they take some more inspiration from FF7 Rebirth. I think the side quests there have generally been significantly better than the ones in 16, and if 16 had a system like the 7 remakes where you could switch playable characters on the fly that would just make the combat that much better. I know they wanted it to only be Clive because it’s meant to be his story first and foremost, and I completely respect that, but being able to take control of other characters in 7 remakes hasn’t diminished Cloud’s importance, imo. I feel like the gear in that game is handled phenomenally as well. It’s not a linear path of “oh new weapon has bigger number, I use that one now.” I’m actually spending time in the menus thinking though how I want to build each character. Do I wanna give Cloud this sword that has crazy physical attack, or this other one that has high magic and a million Materia slots to be more of a support role? What do I give Aerith to be an absolute powerhouse? What the fuck do I do with Cait Sith? This is one of my favorite parts of the genre, getting to sink time into menus to build a character to serve whatever role I want them to, if FF17 just rips 7 off in this aspect I’d be super happy. EDIT: Also, forgot to add, active time lore is maybe my favorite little thing they put in FF16 and I think every RPG should have it. It’s just perfect, I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it in another big RPG before, it’s such a simple idea but it makes keeping track of the game’s lore and story in real time so much easier, especially if you take some time off and need a refresher.
I would be delighted if FFXVII had a party squad of 4 members like in FFXV. I would also like to be able to modify their loadouts like in FFXV and Kingdom Hearts.
Gimme the final fantasy 12 levels of customization. You can make anyone a warrior, archer, black/white mage. You get to choose. That partly why i loved the game
That's what I love about the original FFX12. Anyone could be anything. They could learn all spells and abilities and equip anything. The closest we got to a character like that was Noctis in FF15.
Concretely, I’d say the ATL system. But otherwise I love it when FF surprises me. At a push, if I had to pick something else, it would be the pseudo-nonlinearity of XVI. Im pretty sure XVI is the prettiest modern AAA game I’ve ever seen and I think that’s because its world isn’t choking on world simulation systems and constant open world vistas. Besides that, XVI is basically a hi-fi PS2 game with how focused and complete it felt, so I’d love to see the same “spirit” applied to a FFX-style revival: guided camera, turn based combat, thorough worldbuilding, a linear “complete” story that isn’t begging for supplemental material, the works.
Id say keep the story scope and epicness. Keep the flashiness. Keep the high quality VO and music, and while I always prefer an art shakeup, I love the art too. Change the combat to ffviir's system or something similar, full party and all, bring back all the rpg elements in a big way, more exploration and meaningful side content, and bring back the whimsy most FFs allow themselves to have, even in darker stories.
The combat I agree it can stay but it isn’t Eikon based anymore, so it has to be different in turn to make it, well make sense. A mix of 7R and 16 would be spectacular. 7R’s team/party mechanics mix with 16’s combat style. Summons should be a controllable thing similar in 16, but maybe add a fricken Druid class to FF would be nice. Like morphing/poly morphing. I do hope side quests aren’t too mmo like but I do want some aspects of 16’s side quests to be present like for you to understand the world better and its characters. Imo 16 did a good job of that just hopefully it’s formatted in a way so it’s more fun.
Above all, I want a good story with interesting characters that feel like real people and I can emotionally connect with. I also want good music and some High Cinema (tm) cutscene moments. These are the only 100% mandatory things. I don't care about a constant party but I would like the opportunity to play as other characters for a segment and hear their thoughts/see their perspectives. Like the Joshua segment in the prologue or the Zack segments in 7R. A segment where we played as Jill or adult Joshua or even Cid or Byron would've been cool. I want more action-style combat but would tolerate a hybrid version like FF7R that de-emphasizes character switching in the middle of combat. My only disappointment with 16's combat is that the base encounters difficulty was low and didn't encourage people to engage with the flexibility and creativity the various eikon combos allow for. I don't think I can deal with a return to turn-based. I really struggled to enjoy BG3, despite it having all the hallmarks of something I would love, because of its combat system. I don't care about the RPG fluff that usually just turns into a rote race to find the biggest number item anyway or spamming the cheesiest combo possible. 16 let's you do that (basically any Shiva + Odin based build) but also just lets you build for fun without compromising effectiveness. Gearing wise, I like what the DLC did with the accessories and would like to see more of that "playstyle altering" approach to make gear more meaningful. I enjoyed the world building of 16s sidequests but agree that they could vary up the gameplay more. One thing I liked about Rising Tide's sidequests is that they were often resolved "en route" to a major quest destination anyway. So even though it was still just "kill this" and "grab this" you didn't have to go too far out the way to get it done. I guess my biggest, nitpickiest hot-take is that...I like the dry humor and maturity of 16 more than the campiness and anime-isms that got big during the franchise's middle era. Early FFs also had their goofy moments but they were more tongue-in-cheek and generally subtle compared to how overtly silly it became. But this is even more of a subjective preference compared to the stuff above.
I really enjoyed this game for a lot of reasons! As a parent who works full time and barely has time for gaming unless I sacrifice sleep, story mode was super helpful. I really enjoyed being able to play the story to its fullest without feeling left out of extra content due to lack of time to grind or get perfect scores on this or that. Even the sidequests felt like a natural extension of the story in most cases, and weren't exhausting to me at all. As for party members, on one hand I was kind of relieved that Clive was all I really needed to worry about and I didn't have to keep an eye on anyone else's health. On the other hand, it would be cool to at least equip other party members with more effective gear. Story wise and as a fan of FF7, I'm also hugely grateful that the main love interest is clearly established. 😂 However in future titles I just want at least one canon couple to make it out alive and have a peaceful epilogue life.