Posted March 16, 2022
Just a few impressions about the game from the PS4 demo. Presented as bullets:
First, visually the game on PS4 as the demo is a mixed bag. It feels like a game designed for PS5 which was downgraded for PS4, which it probably was. Predictably, the FMV cutscenes look great and are as dark and edgy as you could ever want. The in game cutscenes are okay. The gameplay is blurry as can be in performance mode, but that is the price you pay. Otherwise the game looks pretty good, kind of feels like a hybrid of Nioh and Dissidia Final Fantasy.
Second, the characters are mixed. The boy band reject phase is not and will likely not be over for some time. They are more muted than FFXV but still the look remains. Also, the main characters for some reason wear these really lazy modern day clothes but the towns people and the like wear this nicely Final Fantasy medievalish clothing style. Also, ear buds, smart phones, and crap crooner music were not appreciated in anything with the words Final Fantasy in the title. Otherwise the art reminds me of the older games with the androgynously designed important NPCs. I hope if this gets a sequel (and it almost guaranteeably will not) that there is a character creator added.
Third, gameplay. This is where I was most hoping to investigate. I love Final Fantasy Explorers, the FF take on Monster Hunter. It is my favorite Monster hunter style game out of God Eater, Freedom Wars, Toukiden, or Monster Hunter itself (Second place goes to Toukiden pretty easily). The gameplay here does much similar as FFEx did for MH formula: simplifies and makes it more approachable while still keeping the main hook. So, in FFEx the bosses are still colossal and feel nigh unbeatable but with FF twists. Honestly, that game is the best thing to bear the FF name from the 2010s easily with a possible second place to World of Final Fantasy, but I have only played that game's demo. So, this game is basically like Nioh (a better comparison due to Team Ninja, and it plays more like it than Dark Souls anyway) but with goblins instead of yokai. The game's responsiveness is pretty solid on performance mode and the feedback from attacks is pretty solid, although it does not feel quite as satisfying as Nioh. It introduces finisher moves that are visually stunning and remind me of the finishers in Metal Gear Rising. The game on the Action difficulty is pretty forgiving, it will punish you if you are being reckless but it's nothing a dummy like me cannot handle, so far. I'll admit that I did not get to play it very much but what I did play is reflected here.
Fourth, best news is that the game is highly customizable. There should be lots of classes but I did not get there. I am just talking about controls. I set it to resemble Nioh but the default resembles Dark Souls with the R1 button serving as a standard attack. I switched it to Square with the sprint as holding down Cross, Triangle as the special attack (no quick and heavy attack so far) with holding down the L2 button for a pop up menu of specials. L1 for me blocked, but the option also exists to just remap nearly every button. Word of warning, the sprint option is under a general options tab for whatever reason and not the normal controls tab.
My verdict so far is that the game is incredibly promising if you don't mind a follow the leader type of FF game. If you want something more like Dark Souls then I imagine Elden Ring is already in your system. I look forward to playing more of it. Although, last word of warning, the dialogue is basically trash. I also heard that the game's visuals (at least for PS5) are improved after the demo, which bodes well for the game moving forward.
(I played more of the demo)
The dialogue does not get better, really, but at least it maintains the same quality. Beat the one boss and went to different locations. Feels a lot like Nioh with the way it handles missions. The addition of party members to combat does a lot to make bosses more bearable.
Messing with classes is probably the single most fun aspect of the game. You can switch between styles on the fly with R2 and this is similar to the stances in Nioh. So I currently do a Lancer/Mage build but as long as it is possible to equip the style you absolutely can and the hurdle is fairly minimal. The styles are pretty fun and the move sets feel different enough to warrant a different style altogether. So, in FF games traditionally like in FFIII on DS all of your guys do basically the same melee move set regardless of what their class is, similar in FFEx if I recall correctly. Here the special attacks can be both situational and varied. From a distance the lancer uses their (pardon) lance like a javelin. Also, the way it handles real time spell casting is pretty neat. Since in FF games the anima magic is all tiered anyway it reward you for being able to cast longer without interruption by tiering you to the higher magic strengths.
If anything else comes to mind I'll try and post here.
First, visually the game on PS4 as the demo is a mixed bag. It feels like a game designed for PS5 which was downgraded for PS4, which it probably was. Predictably, the FMV cutscenes look great and are as dark and edgy as you could ever want. The in game cutscenes are okay. The gameplay is blurry as can be in performance mode, but that is the price you pay. Otherwise the game looks pretty good, kind of feels like a hybrid of Nioh and Dissidia Final Fantasy.
Second, the characters are mixed. The boy band reject phase is not and will likely not be over for some time. They are more muted than FFXV but still the look remains. Also, the main characters for some reason wear these really lazy modern day clothes but the towns people and the like wear this nicely Final Fantasy medievalish clothing style. Also, ear buds, smart phones, and crap crooner music were not appreciated in anything with the words Final Fantasy in the title. Otherwise the art reminds me of the older games with the androgynously designed important NPCs. I hope if this gets a sequel (and it almost guaranteeably will not) that there is a character creator added.
Third, gameplay. This is where I was most hoping to investigate. I love Final Fantasy Explorers, the FF take on Monster Hunter. It is my favorite Monster hunter style game out of God Eater, Freedom Wars, Toukiden, or Monster Hunter itself (Second place goes to Toukiden pretty easily). The gameplay here does much similar as FFEx did for MH formula: simplifies and makes it more approachable while still keeping the main hook. So, in FFEx the bosses are still colossal and feel nigh unbeatable but with FF twists. Honestly, that game is the best thing to bear the FF name from the 2010s easily with a possible second place to World of Final Fantasy, but I have only played that game's demo. So, this game is basically like Nioh (a better comparison due to Team Ninja, and it plays more like it than Dark Souls anyway) but with goblins instead of yokai. The game's responsiveness is pretty solid on performance mode and the feedback from attacks is pretty solid, although it does not feel quite as satisfying as Nioh. It introduces finisher moves that are visually stunning and remind me of the finishers in Metal Gear Rising. The game on the Action difficulty is pretty forgiving, it will punish you if you are being reckless but it's nothing a dummy like me cannot handle, so far. I'll admit that I did not get to play it very much but what I did play is reflected here.
Fourth, best news is that the game is highly customizable. There should be lots of classes but I did not get there. I am just talking about controls. I set it to resemble Nioh but the default resembles Dark Souls with the R1 button serving as a standard attack. I switched it to Square with the sprint as holding down Cross, Triangle as the special attack (no quick and heavy attack so far) with holding down the L2 button for a pop up menu of specials. L1 for me blocked, but the option also exists to just remap nearly every button. Word of warning, the sprint option is under a general options tab for whatever reason and not the normal controls tab.
My verdict so far is that the game is incredibly promising if you don't mind a follow the leader type of FF game. If you want something more like Dark Souls then I imagine Elden Ring is already in your system. I look forward to playing more of it. Although, last word of warning, the dialogue is basically trash. I also heard that the game's visuals (at least for PS5) are improved after the demo, which bodes well for the game moving forward.
(I played more of the demo)
The dialogue does not get better, really, but at least it maintains the same quality. Beat the one boss and went to different locations. Feels a lot like Nioh with the way it handles missions. The addition of party members to combat does a lot to make bosses more bearable.
Messing with classes is probably the single most fun aspect of the game. You can switch between styles on the fly with R2 and this is similar to the stances in Nioh. So I currently do a Lancer/Mage build but as long as it is possible to equip the style you absolutely can and the hurdle is fairly minimal. The styles are pretty fun and the move sets feel different enough to warrant a different style altogether. So, in FF games traditionally like in FFIII on DS all of your guys do basically the same melee move set regardless of what their class is, similar in FFEx if I recall correctly. Here the special attacks can be both situational and varied. From a distance the lancer uses their (pardon) lance like a javelin. Also, the way it handles real time spell casting is pretty neat. Since in FF games the anima magic is all tiered anyway it reward you for being able to cast longer without interruption by tiering you to the higher magic strengths.
If anything else comes to mind I'll try and post here.
Post edited March 17, 2022 by AnimalMother117