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The story
A thread titled “Final Fantasy XVI is genuinely fun, so why isn’t its reputation spreading?” appeared on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo (“Anything Goes Live”) board and drew a large number of replies. Posters cited reasons including the shift toward action-focused gameplay, mixed opinions on the streamlined, linear structure with simplified equipment and growth systems, and fatigue from the long stretches of dark storytelling. The discussion also brought up how the previous title, FF15, was released unfinished, drew comparisons with FF7 Remake, and even spawned personal proposals for how to rebuild the series.
What people said
so it's just decently unremarkable
Japan's graphics aren't even that realistic by world standards, and the scenes are just copy-pasted from Western movies and TV dramas, right down to the character movement—sometimes it's even worse, like stage theater.
Overseas it's the same with something like "FF33" (likely a jab at Clair Obscur: Expedition 33); the people praising that are still the type still playing Square Enix games.
Apparently that one's set in the far future.
But lately, aren't the games that get high praise online—or at least don't get trashed—basically all the same system? Open world, guard, parry, attack, rinse and repeat.
but doesn't that just mean it lost what made it feel like FF?
A "normal RPG"?
Is there even an RPG without cutscenes?
That phrase gives you away as a pretty old otaku.
Guess it's scary to voice an opinion, huh—
you get outed even in a short post.
Wow, a second textbook "cocky keyboard-warrior tactician"… didn't see that coming.
As long as the actual game content clears a bare minimum bar, that's fine.
So that's why they kept everything shrouded in darkness/secrecy at first to steal the spotlight?
I played it because it got added to a subscription catalog (i.e., became available through a game-pass-style service).
That's beside the point.
So few people are even playing it that the discussion never gets as far as whether the story is good or bad.
The focus should've been on "what is this story even about," not "what kind of story is it."
They should've fully leveraged the series' legacy in pre-launch promotion.
It's so relentlessly dark that long sessions get exhausting and make you want to take breaks.
Guess FF16's failure is why Dragon Quest changed direction too, huh?
What are you talking about—they promoted it with those summon PVs and it did get talked about.
It just didn't spread further because the actual gameplay experience was too mediocre.
These days, if something's genuinely fun, it naturally becomes a talking point.
They did put out a demo, but it was underwhelming.
Most of the industry's leading titles succeed by letting players gather materials, craft, and customize their builds—so why go with an almost fixed-equipment, linear structure instead?
Maybe they had some kind of pride about not wanting to copy that same formula, but the result is a game with no personality at all.
Honestly, it's hard to tell where all that game's development effort actually went.
My favorite is actually Barnabas.
Honestly, it's influenced by GoT in way too many ways.
Even that mother character is basically a Cersei clone.
I got Game of Thrones, Attack on Titan, and Naruto vibes.
I seriously don't get how 7R is more fun than 15.
Did you just clear 7R's story mode and stop there or something?
It's not about difficulty—it's just too boring.
The shell it's built on is just too old.
In my book it doesn't even count as a new game.
Though the quality itself is pretty good.
Apparently most of the people playing it are guys over 40.
If you care that much about graphics and cinematic presentation, release it as a movie, not a game.
13-2 was rough.
The system's a bit better than 13, but the story turned into absolute garbage.
Though it was already falling apart from releasing way too much DLC to begin with.
You mean the DLC production, right?
All the DLC meant to complete the main story has actually been released, so the main game is complete.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
FF16 is the latest mainline numbered entry, released in 2023, produced by Naoki Yoshida. The previous title, FF15, was released unfinished after a troubled development and had to be filled out afterward with a huge amount of additional DLC—a legacy that comes up repeatedly in the thread. FF16 marked a sharp turn away from the series’ traditional command-based RPG battles toward real-time action, and also adopted a linear structure with reduced freedom in equipment and character builds, which some posters point to as the reason the game feels like it “lacks personality.”
The thread is split mainly on two points. One is how to judge the shift to action gameplay itself: those who see it as making the game more accessible and those who feel it “lost what made it feel like FF” are talking past each other. The other is where to place the blame for “it’s fun but hasn’t caught on”—some point to the dark tone or insufficient promotion, while others place the blame squarely on the quality of the gameplay experience itself. Note that the claim that “most players are in their 40s or older” is a single unsourced comment from the thread, not a confirmed official statistic.
*This article is composed as an excerpt/summary from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Final Fantasy XVI is genuinely fun, so why isn’t it getting more praise?“.
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