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There's already a solution to the 30fps "problem" that doesn't require them to cut visual fidelity back a generation, though -- just have 4k30 and 1440p60 (or, if necessary, 1080p60) options with the same graphical bells and whistles, and let players decide what they think is more important.
Likes:
Nova and Lulcielid
Some thoughts on the trailer which might have been mentioned already.
Main character uses a lot of fire based attacks. Joshua and what I presume is his father; the royalty of this kingdom, both wear red clothing. I'm thinking we start off in the Fire Kingdom where Phoenix is the benevolent patron Eikon of the land.
The man made of fire we see is the soul / essence of the fire crystal. Joshua's despair summons it to appear and creates a new Eikon, Ifrit, which is far more aggressive. Ifrit then replaces Phoenix as the new patron Eikon, which may alter the state of the Fire Kingdom from a peaceful place to a war hungry nation.
I doubt the main character's sole goal is to destroy Ifrit and the Eikons. Somebody would have purposely put events into motion with the attack on the main character's home town, and this somebody or something is the true threat.
I'm also kinda hoping the main character doesn't have a name. We the player give him a name. Throughout the story he is only referred to as "Joshua's Shield" or "you, new guy".
Main character uses a lot of fire based attacks. Joshua and what I presume is his father; the royalty of this kingdom, both wear red clothing. I'm thinking we start off in the Fire Kingdom where Phoenix is the benevolent patron Eikon of the land.
The man made of fire we see is the soul / essence of the fire crystal. Joshua's despair summons it to appear and creates a new Eikon, Ifrit, which is far more aggressive. Ifrit then replaces Phoenix as the new patron Eikon, which may alter the state of the Fire Kingdom from a peaceful place to a war hungry nation.
I doubt the main character's sole goal is to destroy Ifrit and the Eikons. Somebody would have purposely put events into motion with the attack on the main character's home town, and this somebody or something is the true threat.
I'm also kinda hoping the main character doesn't have a name. We the player give him a name. Throughout the story he is only referred to as "Joshua's Shield" or "you, new guy".
Likes:
Cloud_CR and Storm
An interesting take on the story that I've seen is that the story may partially focus on the concept of the fires of rebirth vs the fires of destruction hence the logo being Ifrit vs Phoenix. Definitely think the story is gonna cap off with the Phoenix vs Ifrit fight and your character's objective is to save Joshua from the negative influences of Ifrit or whoever is controlling Ifrit. Obviously there will be much more going on but I expect the relationship between Joshua and his shield to be the heart of the story.
Likes:
Storm
I think FFXVI's biggest visual problem is FFXV, to be honest.
Case in point:
The primary point of comparison isn't "a really solid late PS4/XONE game." It's a predecessor that pulled off real-time scenes as absurdly over-the-top as the CG Final Fantasy used to be famous for.
The difference in base asset quality is pretty stark, too. Here's the most one-to-one comparison available -- closeups of Titan:
XV's looks like an impressive approximation of a Visual Works asset; XVI's doesn't.
And the existence of FFXV Windows Edition really doesn't help matters, because we've seen what well-made 4K textures look like, and it's quite possibly better than what we've seen in FFXVI:
(It's also worth pointing out that the Prompto screen is of a LOD 0 gameplay model rather than a cutscene-specific model. IIRC, FFXV's LOD 0 gameplay models are its cutscene models because the Luminous Engine is just silly like that... but I'm not at all convinced that the same will hold true of FFXVI.)
Case in point:
The primary point of comparison isn't "a really solid late PS4/XONE game." It's a predecessor that pulled off real-time scenes as absurdly over-the-top as the CG Final Fantasy used to be famous for.
The difference in base asset quality is pretty stark, too. Here's the most one-to-one comparison available -- closeups of Titan:
XV's looks like an impressive approximation of a Visual Works asset; XVI's doesn't.
And the existence of FFXV Windows Edition really doesn't help matters, because we've seen what well-made 4K textures look like, and it's quite possibly better than what we've seen in FFXVI:
(It's also worth pointing out that the Prompto screen is of a LOD 0 gameplay model rather than a cutscene-specific model. IIRC, FFXV's LOD 0 gameplay models are its cutscene models because the Luminous Engine is just silly like that... but I'm not at all convinced that the same will hold true of FFXVI.)
I also find that XV's lighting while impressive, also has a lot of flaws with really awkward self illumination in a lot of situations, and of course the poor AA etc. A lot of these things hamper the overall quality of XV. I think XVI looks really good right now, and I think that XVI will ultimately look a lot better than XV in the long run.
It's weird though, some people say that XVI looks like a PS3 game which is baffling to me. Other people think it runs on Luminous. I don't know why the community is so split on graphics.
Likes:
Cloud_CR
Gifs about gameplay mechanics of Final Fantasy XVI.
I wish we had direct feed footage for this stuff...
Likes:
Cloud_CR and Storm
Rockstar has better know-how and bigger teams working on those titles. The Last of Us and Uncharted are linear action games shorter than your average RPG.
This genre is expected to translate the variety of content of old-schools JRPGs into modern graphics aka multiple characters, tons of abilities, content that lasts for 60 hours, diverse locations, cutscenes... most companies aren't Rockstar which is why they have a harder time.
My two cents.
This genre is expected to translate the variety of content of old-schools JRPGs into modern graphics aka multiple characters, tons of abilities, content that lasts for 60 hours, diverse locations, cutscenes... most companies aren't Rockstar which is why they have a harder time.
My two cents.
Gifs about gameplay mechanics of Final Fantasy XVI.
Seeing so much of DMC's dna in the combat makes me wonder if the ability to channel different summons in combat will be treated like the devil arms you get for beating bosses in that series. Like you keep the same sword but each summon essentially gives you a new moveset to learn and incorporate into your arsenal. It's especially interesting to think about in the context of a party where every character could potentially have multiple movesets depending on how you equip stuff. Overall I'm really excited about what this entry will have to offer in terms of gameplay.
I noticed something else in the last gif. The insignia on the dragoon's cloak under all that blood is nearly identical to one of the two crossed tattoos on the protagonist's face in his grizzled version shown at the beginning and end of the trailer.
Likes:
CloudBuster
Tidas wasn't strictly a named protagonist as his name could be changed in X/X-2, but he wasn't silent by any means.
Likes:
LeonBlade and Nova
Something curious about the trailer is that the protagonist has 3 costumes. The one at the beginning / prologue, then another after what seems like a time-skip, where he is an adult, and then another.
Maybe our hero is conscripted into the imperial military after his kingdom falls. The fact that the symbol is on the Dragoon's cape who is adorned with very ornate armor while our guy just has it slapped on his face and is basically branded like cattle along with all his squad mates is a detail that definitely lends itself to the idea that the MC is starting as a fodder grunt in the enemy military post timeskip. Given that Phoenix is a focal point of the story maybe his own rebirth after the initial defeat is a driving plot point of the story. Finding new purpose after losing it when his old life was taken from him.
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Likes:
Storm and Cloud_CR
Some of the enemies seen in the trailer and their designs for this game.
@ResetEra
-Goblin:
-Troll/Ogre (any other guesses? Maybe it's simply a Big Boy Goblin. He looks straight out of The Hobbit):
-Coeurl:
-Malboro:
-Mage (any guesses as to the type?):
-Dragoon (he's a big guy):
-Knight:
-Bonus knight (seems like an enemy, but could he be a guest? Although the face being covered tells me it's an enemy):
-Troll/Ogre (any other guesses? Maybe it's simply a Big Boy Goblin. He looks straight out of The Hobbit):
-Coeurl:
-Malboro:
-Mage (any guesses as to the type?):
-Dragoon (he's a big guy):
-Knight:
-Bonus knight (seems like an enemy, but could he be a guest? Although the face being covered tells me it's an enemy):
Likes:
Storm and CloudBuster
You can prefer XVI's Titan on a design level, but the XVI asset just seems far, far less impressive. I'll start with XVI's this time, then compare from there:
XVI Titan has a lot of jagged edges that scream "low-poly normal mapped UE3 model" to me. The rocks in the upper left quadrant next to Titan's face are particularly egregious in this regard -- if you trace the edges of the rock, there are straight lines dozens of pixels long that are offset by light responding to fake detail in the normal map. The normal maps in question are lower resolution than the base texture, which results in a weird grainy/blurry look to the image overall.
I will admit that I'm probably overly sensitive to low-poly normal mapped UE3 models; I despised them in the PS3 era and I'm still rather allergic. But when I look at FFXVI Titan, I see the same sort of faults that I see in something like Gears of War, just an order of magnitude less eye-gouging:
(Note again the extended straight lines pretending not to be straight thanks to lighting that responds to textures rather than polygons... with the unfortunate consequence of the lighting feeling blotchy due to quarter-res normal maps. Ugh.)
Now, let's take a look at FFXV Titan:
FFXV Titan is full of all of the organic curves that XVI Titan lacks. He looks like this with completely flat lighting:
The reason why he retains all of his detail under such conditions is because practically all of his detail is polygonal -- at 400,000 poly, he's made of more triangles than Cloud from Advent Children. And when proper lighting is applied to such a model, there's no mismatch between the edges of the actual model and where the edges are supposed to be according to the normal map.
Until full raycasting is implemented, dynamic lighting is always going to break in some circumstances. Either XVI will use static lighting, or it will break just as egregiously sometimes.
With regards to the AA, though, that might be a problem on consoles, but it's not a problem with the Windows Edition. To the extent that XVI solved the problem, I'd be shocked if the solution didn't come down to the 4k resolution. =P
I think it's because of the low-poly normal mapped look. Some people are almost completely oblivious to the difference between low-poly normal mapped models and their fully-polygonal equivalents, while others think it's a massive leap. (I actually think the difference between PS3 and PS4 is more impressive than the difference between PS2 and PS3, because the low-poly normal mapped look is the visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. >_>; )
XVI Titan has a lot of jagged edges that scream "low-poly normal mapped UE3 model" to me. The rocks in the upper left quadrant next to Titan's face are particularly egregious in this regard -- if you trace the edges of the rock, there are straight lines dozens of pixels long that are offset by light responding to fake detail in the normal map. The normal maps in question are lower resolution than the base texture, which results in a weird grainy/blurry look to the image overall.
I will admit that I'm probably overly sensitive to low-poly normal mapped UE3 models; I despised them in the PS3 era and I'm still rather allergic. But when I look at FFXVI Titan, I see the same sort of faults that I see in something like Gears of War, just an order of magnitude less eye-gouging:
(Note again the extended straight lines pretending not to be straight thanks to lighting that responds to textures rather than polygons... with the unfortunate consequence of the lighting feeling blotchy due to quarter-res normal maps. Ugh.)
Now, let's take a look at FFXV Titan:
FFXV Titan is full of all of the organic curves that XVI Titan lacks. He looks like this with completely flat lighting:
The reason why he retains all of his detail under such conditions is because practically all of his detail is polygonal -- at 400,000 poly, he's made of more triangles than Cloud from Advent Children. And when proper lighting is applied to such a model, there's no mismatch between the edges of the actual model and where the edges are supposed to be according to the normal map.
Until full raycasting is implemented, dynamic lighting is always going to break in some circumstances. Either XVI will use static lighting, or it will break just as egregiously sometimes.
With regards to the AA, though, that might be a problem on consoles, but it's not a problem with the Windows Edition. To the extent that XVI solved the problem, I'd be shocked if the solution didn't come down to the 4k resolution. =P
I think it's because of the low-poly normal mapped look. Some people are almost completely oblivious to the difference between low-poly normal mapped models and their fully-polygonal equivalents, while others think it's a massive leap. (I actually think the difference between PS3 and PS4 is more impressive than the difference between PS2 and PS3, because the low-poly normal mapped look is the visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. >_>; )
Likes:
Nova and Storm
Damn that Coeurl design looks majestic as fuck, wasn't able to get a good look at it until now. Graphics aside I'm actually really digging the art and design direction of this game quite a bit. I'd honestly be down to have this be the new look/aesthetic for the franchise going forward for a while, would be a nice break from Nomura designing everything for the last decade. The new art style's probably the biggest contributor to why FFXVI feels so refreshing to look at for me personally.
Likes:
Cloud_CR and Storm
Honestly yeah XVI looks less epic/surprising by it's graphics than XV.
But...
1. The game is still in development and everything can still change like in XV
2. Graphics are not everything. I want a good storystelling and fun gameplay. And XV was for me at least the opposite.
So I'm interested how exactly the battle system will work and the story sounds also interesting and we have FINALLY BLOOD in a main FF game.
So I'm curious why 7Remake had almost no blood, perhaps XVI will be rated M??
But...
1. The game is still in development and everything can still change like in XV
2. Graphics are not everything. I want a good storystelling and fun gameplay. And XV was for me at least the opposite.
So I'm interested how exactly the battle system will work and the story sounds also interesting and we have FINALLY BLOOD in a main FF game.
So I'm curious why 7Remake had almost no blood, perhaps XVI will be rated M??
Likes:
Somber