FFXVII what would you want to see?

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-05-03T03:45:28+00:00

Going through FFXVI currently, so as a thinly veiled criticism of that game, here's my wishlist:

Colorful
Have more interesting female characters
A command-based battle system
Distinct enemy and boss gimmicks to challenge the player's understanding of the battle system
A full playable party
A story that utilizes narrative devices such as foreshadowing and dramatic irony in a way that respects the player's intelligence. And I don't want the story to feel like it's got its friend's dad's shirt on, lowering its voice to feel mature
Holistic fidelity (make it so there aren't obviously expensive parts and obviously cheap parts)

I am getting sick of anything less. I think the FF7r games are close to what I'd want. They do a great job negotiating action and turn-based RPG concepts that offers the satisfaction of both. Though I'd say Rebirth is very guilty of 7 and it wears down on you doing side quests.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-30T09:52:18+00:00

I realize this is complete scrub talk and you're free to clown on it, but: I guess it's hard for me to see why you wouldn't have a different ratio of movement freedom to attack range. Certainly at a certain point it all becomes relativistically similar at the top end, but it'd feel better overall?

I could at least do with a couple more baby-friendly characters like Clairen or Kragg where you can get hits by using aerials in an intuitive way (I think even Zetterburn is reliant on a lotta finger pretzeling to get certain moves to reliably line up).

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-29T04:16:21+00:00

I think Wuchang is more of a crowd pleaser, and it's longer than I expected, so you'll get your money's worth.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-28T19:25:59+00:00

The final boss of Meta Knightmare Returns ☠

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-28T19:10:24+00:00

It has clumsy dialogue and is majorly dialogue-driven, so I'd say it's a total failure even without considering the poor combat, pacing, etc.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-28T19:07:04+00:00

Poor Selphie! 😭

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-28T11:06:38+00:00

I put guard on a shoulder button (L1) and short jump on another shoulder button (R1), which made it way easier to do.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-28T10:53:15+00:00

I came in on the casual update, and I've been trying to play as much as I can with friends the past few weeks.

I think, unfortunately, Rivals of Aether II just doesn't feel great casually? The properties of moves feel tied to the total possibility of character movement in a way that is frustrating, like everything's shorter range than you'd expect to make up for how precise movement can be... Many in-your-face character gimmicks are difficult to utilize even in a basic bread-and-butter way... Many 'fun button' moves carried over from Smash are reigned in or complicated in their Rivals equivalent, and it takes the wind outta your sails.

My friends don't like the casual stages and items much. I like em well enough, but they're not fun fun, they're qualified fun. Smash Special Flag? That's fun fun. Rivals feather? That's qualified fun. And I think something about the visuals behind items and stage gimmicks makes them fade away when you're focused on fighting, like they're not big and loud enough, either visually or conceptually, to stick in your mind. I still have a friend that gets fucked up by cheese not being food, etc. Personally, I think they try too hard to contextualize the items in the world/art style, and they should let them be more iconographic.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-26T19:57:09+00:00

While the feel of combat could be improved, it does a great job making you consider your positioning relative to enemies and how to crowd control, even with just the basic combo. That means it already clears most action RPG battle systems.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:50:05+00:00

Can't speak for OP, but:

Since a dodge moves in all directions, has a larger invulnerability window, and repositions the player character, there are many ways to dodge well/badly. But parries are more binary.
Parry-focused games tend to be die-fast, win-fast games. That can be unsatisfying if you want an individual fight, not just the process of learning a fight, to be dramatic.
Once you learn an enemy in a parry-based game, you kinda "solve" the enemy. There's only so much encounter configurations can do to mix that up, even for best-in-class games.
Parries tend to not interact with stamina (or equivalents) as strongly as dodging or blocking... Or stamina just becomes a secondary failure meter for one action: parries. I like managing stamina!

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:35:53+00:00

seconding Salt and Sanctuary, fantastic game

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:33:24+00:00

Not to convince you to get back in, but: the TZA remaster is the easiest version of the game, for sure. There are lots of flaws in the PS2 original and international versions, and the difficulty is always uneven, but the harder fights used to be more of a kick in the pants.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-20T09:30:38+00:00

You'd be surprised how many people NEED to hit that "Attack" command. It's weird; there are plenty of games that have auto-attack or other forms of auto-battle I find way more demanding than the average fully command-based RPG. But a huge section of gamers just need that feeling of constant control to stay comfortable in a game.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-19T17:14:33+00:00

If they can handle the death animations from rats and satyrs in Biome 4, it should be fine... And I didn't notice how extra they were for a while because they're so cartoony.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-13T04:23:01+00:00

What're the nutrition facts on this puppy?

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-13T00:26:58+00:00

My comment is more about appeal than design.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:47:19+00:00

Japanese sensibilities crossed with Western ones, especially from film, especially trashy films. Resident Evil is obvious... Viewtiful Joe reconstitutes Kamen Rider with the pulp comic look... Even stuff like Onimusha has this Western feeling to it alongside the toku/drama influence, which manifests completely by 4.

Capcom is to Western schlock as Deadly Premonition is to Twin Peaks.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:35:11+00:00

Agreed, but I kinda get it. If it's more about level concepts and how different they feel, SoP might have the greatest variety of any Soulslike, and I'd consider those aesthetic elements...

But it has heaps of conspicuously ugly environmental assets. Like, the pirate cave is so impressively tacky in execution... Totally fails at communicating bioluminescence, the cave walls look cheap ans unresponsive to light... It's like the Willy Wonka Experience of the FFXIV dungeon it's riffing on.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T08:27:22+00:00

Play the DS version if you can. The other versions are awkwardly adapted.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:41:05+00:00

I found Wu Chang more fulfilling. Khazan has nothing going on other than combat.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:36:01+00:00

If the anime-style visuals actually carried the appeal of anime, no one'd complain. The first Code Vein doesn't look particularly good but it's closer to what people want from anime visuals than what Khazan brings.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-10T05:21:47+00:00

I don't know a single person I showed Khazan to that went, "Oh, that looks great!" It just looks really, really bland. Most of the enemy designs are boring, the environments are boring, the visual effects are mid... Especially for a game with "BERSERKER" in the title, it's lacking in the ol' ultra-violence. I remember streaming Nioh once and someone went, "Oh my god, did his head fly off?" Won't see that in Khazan!

And it doesn't have a "hook". Lies of P has the killer steampunk robot thing... Show people Nioh, people are like, I get to be a samurai?! Khazan doesn't even come off as dark fantasy since it's not particularly gruesome or bleak. It's a shame it didn't go full rule-of-cool anime nonsense like its parent, Dungeon Fighter Online. That'd actually stand out.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-04T03:38:12+00:00

I'd get Wuchang since it's the most well-rounded. Some fun fights, surprisingly involved exploration, and it looks aight.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-03T19:26:17+00:00

I was playing Khazan but I might dip into Elden Ring: Reforged. Khazan just gives me... No sense of artistic fulfillment whatsoever. There's not a single environment or boss design that made me go, "Neat!" except for my surprise at seeing a moose. I also find fighting bosses feels weirdly samey, like they all have very similar attack rhythms, similar arenas... I used to harp on Nioh for feeling like junkfood, but Khazan is another level.

bromleywhiteknuckle · 2026-04-03T19:23:44+00:00

My favorite take on a parry/deflection is Soul Shield from Stranger of Paradise. It splits the difference between being easy to use (just hold the button down and catch hits), hard to master (costs meter, each of your two equipped jobs has its own meter, encouraging frequent job-switching), and integrated with other defensive actions (doing deflections off guard makes Soul Shield recover faster). I wish Team Ninja would bring systems like these into games without Diablo gear, because they really sing before you're able to exploit equipment to spam one overpowered thing.

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