I was just browsing the Google Play Store and I am getting frustrated seeing games being tagged with the genre, but aren’t actually simulating anything. E.g. Idle Miner/Mining Tycoon (can’t remember name). Nothing in the game is accurate or even tries to represent real life. It even has cartoon graphics. Now I’m not getting mad about the games themselves, just the fact that they are being labelled as sims. Anyone else annoyed by this?
Marketers gonna market. If “simulation” is a hot-selling category, then games are going to be sold as “simulations” if they bear even a slight resemblance to an actual simulation. This the same industry in which the customers con themselves into thinking that Final Fantasy is still a role-playing game.
What are the new Final Fantasies like? 8 was the last one I “beat” and then I never played 9 because the characters looked so cartoonish.
I played the sky pirate one and liked the Gambit system.
I played the one with lightning, but I never got into the whole crystals thing that is so prevalent in FF and it was just such a huge part of that, and they were trying so hard to make her the new cloud.
With its protagonist Noctis as the chosen lightbringer, Final Fantasy XV was just an Andrew Lloyd Webber song away from being Lucifer Christ Superstar.
And Final Fantasy XVI is basically Devil May Cry with a story that resembles a George R. R. Martin fanfic only if you aren’t familiar with Michael Moorcock’s Hawkmoon stories.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
an Andrew Lloyd Webber song away from being Lucifer Christ Superstar
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I HIGHLY recommend X if you like turn based combat. It’s my personal favorite of the series. The setting is chill beach vibes mostly, the context is pretty depressing, and there’s enough story hooks throughout the game to keep you on your toes the entire time.
XVI is pretty great if you like real time combat. If you like it at the beginning but think it’s too basic, keep playing. It gives you more to play with as you go. Great story as well. Most of the characters are really compelling.
XII is a fantastic middle ground as the combat is still then based, but you can move freely, and the gambit system is there if you want it (you can get as high level or deep as you want).
If you liked VII, try out Crisis Core. It’s the best thing to come from that world.
The newer games still have the same general story elements and themes that were characteristic of the entries you’re used to, but the combat is more like an action RPG. The sky pirate one is FF12(my personal favorite one) and Lightnings entries are FF13. Since 14 is an MMO you’ve really only missed two main-series games.
I’m waiting on the latest entry, FF16, to be released on PC so I’m no authority, but from streams I’ve watched the combat is pretty similar looking to the Devil May Cry series.
You can play most of it solo, aside from some of the major boss fights, and it’s both a “greatest hits” nostalgia trip and a damned good FF in its own right once you get into the Heavensward expansion and beyond.
I agree completely and generally describe it as a single-player MMO experience. It does a great job of incorporating the FF storytelling into an MMO environment and I personally love it. I haven’t played since they massively condensed the ARR content a few years back.
At the end of the day though, an MMO and a traditional RPG play very very differently and attract a very different audience so I usually give it an asterisk.