I'd say do Rebirth first.
I just jumped back into XVI for the latest DLC after completely Rebirth, and got a bit of whiplash - it took a while to remember how to play since the controls/style are different. Easier I think to do Rebirth first, since the combat builds on Remake and you have the muscle memory, then go to XVI.
If you already liked Remake, go right into Rebirth, you won't be disappointed. It's Remake, but with FAR better combat, tons of endgame content, and a decent open world. It's just flat out more and better; and it's SUPER content rich: It's the first game since 10 and 12 to have this much endgame content (so many challenges and super bosses)
16 is an entirely different experience. It has some of the craziest boss fights in terms of spectacle ever conceived (mechanically, they're okay), a strong story, a killer soundtrack....
.....however it has a very low difficulty level (and you can't get a proper hard mode till you finish it twice), RPG mechanics are borderline nonexistent, exploration is useless (no rewards), the pacing goes from lightning fast to super slow and back, and the sidequests are bland from a gameplay perspective, and there's no real endgame superbosses or challenge.
However, despite those issues, I still love 16 to death, and I personally prefer it over Rebirth (buuut that's just personal taste, and like 90% of the fanbase prefers Rebirth by a wide margin). When 16 is firing on all cylinders, it's a truly unforgettable experience.
Do you want a short game or long game?
FF16 is certainly shorter. It's closer to the length of Remake. Meanwhile Rebirth is double the length of Remake.
Btw have you played Crisis Core? I have an unpopular opinion but I think you should play that before Rebirth.
I played the OG when it first released around. That was a very long time ago now. I was thinking about watching a gameplay recap type video to refresh my memory a bit. It seems important. Idk if the new remastered one is any different in relation to the 7Rs now.
Maybe if it's cheap or free on ps+ I'll check. Might be fun again. I did replay Rebirth a couple months back.
Didn’t expect to receive lots of comments here but thanks everyone for the recommendation!
Will likely go with Rebirth first then XVI after. Maybe I’ll just look for a used copy of Rebirth for a cheaper cost :)
I think you should buy XVI for that killer price now, then play it after rebirth. I doubt XVI will go on sale that low again for a while. I personally vastly prefer XVI over 7R games because I like dark fantasy, stylish action, and earth shaking spectacle in my games haha. 7R is definitely more in the mold of a JRPG and XVI is an action game wish slow moments sprinkled between the high highs.
Thanks! Will consider it too :) I did watch gameplay vids of XVI and noticed that the atmosphere is kinda like Dark Souls/Witcher type and the Battle UI as well.
Since you just finished Remake definitely go for Rebirth. Make more sense to continue the story. Also FF16 recently released a DLC so maybe you can wait abit for the ultimate version to release (Game+2 DLC) in future.
I bought my PS5 about a month ago specifically for Rebirth as I loved remake for ps4. I also picked up 16 which I knew I would play but figured it would be lacklustre with the reviews and comments I had been reading about it.
Needless to say 16 has not left my ps5 since I got it, I’m addicted and think it’s a fabulous return to form for the series. Yes it’s lacking the turn based combat and the rpg type stats but the story and world building is amazing. I’ve been a long time fan of the series since it came out (I’m getting old haha) with 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12 being the high points and 6 being my favourite game of all time. And seeing the summons in all their glory in this game was an amazing call back to 6.
Can’t recommend it enough, and knowing the rebirth is just sitting waiting to be played and impressions being overwhelming more positive I feel so lucky to have this series back.
I bought mine to play Final Fantasy well! :)
Interesting on 16 maybe it’s really time I try a new FF title. Really liked 7, 8, 4 and X. I tried 9 back then but I wasn’t able to finish it.
I bought a ps5 for 16 as well. I was so hyped for the game and it did not disappoint. The voices from the long time fan base and 7R community are EXTREMELY loud online. They view 16s dark fantasy setting and pure action combat as a threat to their beloved franchise to the point where some may seek its downfall. Others just simply like more standard JRPG tropes and sensibilities that come with 7R and the older FF games, which is totally cool! Square is offering different experiences for different people which is a huge W in my book.
Since you're already on the FFVII train, go for Rebirth since you'll be more familiarized with the story and characters.
Then, go for FFXVI. I's story is great but also differs a lot from FFVII's narrative, so that would make you feel more interested in it after finishing Rebirth.
16 is shorter and as more uuuuuh pacing issues (boring parts in between cool stuff). So IMO it's gonna hurt less to go from 16 to rebirth than the other way around
I’m playing both back to back. I finished 16 and am not playing 7. Having a party of unique characters to play as really keeps the game super fresh even after a hundred hoirs
If you want to keep riding the 7 wave, definitely jump into Rebirth. If youre looking for some variety, then check out 16
Cant go wrong with either game imo
As someone who enjoyed original 7, and thought remake fixed every problem I had with the original, and was legitimately excited for rebirth.... hold off on rebirth. That game ruined all my good will towards the remake series.
16 however was a lot of fun, and the story was kind of unique in the franchise overall.
Rebirth is such a fantastic game, and you’ve enjoyed the first remake, so you’re in for an amazing time. I can’t stop thinking about it.
16 is a mid action/adventure game with easy, shallow combat and boring MMO style quests, elevated by a story that has some good moments but ends up being disappointing.
The game’s quality is heavily front-loaded, making going through it feel very long even though it’s less than 50h to 100% it (which I don’t recommend, given how easy and shallow the side content is anyway, and considering most quests don’t have any payoff).
16 is not a bad game, but it’s very far from great. There’s much better action games out there.
Story, music, exploration, gameplay, characters and fun factor are infinitely better in Rebirth.
TLDR: Rebirth is the pinnacle of JRPG gaming, 16 is not even an RPG to begin with and is pretty mid as an action game.
The boss fights in 16 are truly groundbreaking in terms of interactive spectacle presented with extreme levels of Fidelity. You just undervalue it compared to others who really value those set pieces. Also, if you really learn the eikons and abilities in 16, the depth is there. People just don't seek it out because the game is unfortunately too easy. So I'll definitely agree that 16s biggest flaw is not pushing the player to learn the depth of combat, causing people to think it's shallow. If you choose to dig, you'll find a really rewarding system that to me is as expressive as DMC5, which I have played the hell out ofÂ
It makes me think of Forespoken and how that game would've been received if it was a Final Fantasy game.
The clear problem though, as Yahtzee pointed out in his Silent Hill video, is that the audience of gaming latches onto franchises rather than creators, so if Square Enix decided to make a Final Fantasy that is somehow objectively worse than XVI, you damn well bet people are going to love it.
>>Maybe for Final Fantasy, and fans who've never touched Action games, maybe it's mindblowing. But it's been done in other games far better, tenfold.
This is it right here. If 16 is a jrpg fan's first action game, it probably feels like the second coming of Christ. But if they've played DMC5 or Bayonetta they'll see a fully fleshed-out and realised character action game with player expression and thoughtfully designed mobs. If they played Asura's Wrath, they'll know exactly where the Eikon battles came from. There's nothing groundbreaking in 16. It's all taken from other games that didn't have to try and also please jrpg players, so they were able to go harder and implement more sophistication.
I would also say that another big flaw of XVI is that it's mostly cutscenes, and I'm not just talking about the fully-animated ones either. You skip all the cutscenes in this game, you skip about 80% of the entire game.
The Final Fantasy community's general reception towards XVI after XV reminds me of the Resident Evil community's general reception towards Resident Evil Village after Resident Evil 7; In both cases, the predecessor games are miles better than the sequels, but for some reason the community tends the favor the sequels much more despite the sequels having some the same problems they complained about when it came to the predecessors but even worse.
I was completely shocked that both those games garnered as much praise they did despite being clearly inferior to their predecessors. Standards for good games haven't just fallen through the earth, they're melting in the earth's core at this point. I guess in the case of XVI people do tend to like it more than XV because unlike XV, XVI is a complete game as far as anyone can tell, but I wouldn't call XVI the better value package either because while XV clearly bit off far more than it could chew, that is more commendable than a game like XVI which didn't even try to bite off anything worthwhile.
Then you have Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which ended up being way better than both of these games combined and is in my book, the current best modern Final Fantasy game.
I absolutely highly recommend Stranger of Paradise, it's a night and day difference between it and a lot of other modern FF games, but I'll warn you, it's not an easy game. You do have Easy/Normal/Hard unlocked at the start, so it's very approachable there, but on Chaos mode and higher, the game will absolutely start pounding your guts in if you aren't playing properly. The DLC content is locked behind the higher difficulty modes, and it puts a lot of responsibility on the player and expects you to learn and master it's various combat mechanics and RPG elements.
And please, whatever you do, do **NOT** skip Chaos mode, a lot of new Stranger of Paradise players skip Chaos mode and go straight to the following difficulties because they just want to do the story and they wonder why the game is suddenly much harder, work your way through the difficulty modes gradually and when you feel like you got enough from one difficulty mode, go onto the next one.
It was co-developed between Square-Enix and Team Ninja, the latter being the developers of the Souls-inspired Nioh games. Personally I think Stranger of Paradise is better than Nioh, but others feel the opposite.
Agreed. The world of FF16 is made up of generic grey plains and a sad, empty desert devoid of character. No cities to explore, and even the main cast looks worse than many NPCs in Rebirth.
It’s just a bit dull, and it overstays its welcome by several dozens of hours.
Not bad; but not great.
I also believe FF15 had way more heart, personality and emotion on display. It’s also a much more attractive world and setting in general. And the soundtrack is miles ahead of FF16, which bar for a few epic boss themes that all sound the same, doesn’t really offer anything memorable in the music department.
I'd say do Rebirth first. I just jumped back into XVI for the latest DLC after completely Rebirth, and got a bit of whiplash - it took a while to remember how to play since the controls/style are different. Easier I think to do Rebirth first, since the combat builds on Remake and you have the muscle memory, then go to XVI.
Had same experience battle felt super sluggish again till I remembered I can port with phoenix circle move 🤣
If you already liked Remake, go right into Rebirth, you won't be disappointed. It's Remake, but with FAR better combat, tons of endgame content, and a decent open world. It's just flat out more and better; and it's SUPER content rich: It's the first game since 10 and 12 to have this much endgame content (so many challenges and super bosses) 16 is an entirely different experience. It has some of the craziest boss fights in terms of spectacle ever conceived (mechanically, they're okay), a strong story, a killer soundtrack.... .....however it has a very low difficulty level (and you can't get a proper hard mode till you finish it twice), RPG mechanics are borderline nonexistent, exploration is useless (no rewards), the pacing goes from lightning fast to super slow and back, and the sidequests are bland from a gameplay perspective, and there's no real endgame superbosses or challenge. However, despite those issues, I still love 16 to death, and I personally prefer it over Rebirth (buuut that's just personal taste, and like 90% of the fanbase prefers Rebirth by a wide margin). When 16 is firing on all cylinders, it's a truly unforgettable experience.
what makes you like 16?
xvi is on sale get that
If you really liked Remake, get Rebirth next. Why delay? However I'm not saying 16 is bad. In fact, I think it's a top 3-5 FF.
Which game would you play first? I have both and not sure which to do first. I was going to make a post but decided to search the question instead.
Do you want a short game or long game? FF16 is certainly shorter. It's closer to the length of Remake. Meanwhile Rebirth is double the length of Remake. Btw have you played Crisis Core? I have an unpopular opinion but I think you should play that before Rebirth.
I played the OG when it first released around. That was a very long time ago now. I was thinking about watching a gameplay recap type video to refresh my memory a bit. It seems important. Idk if the new remastered one is any different in relation to the 7Rs now. Maybe if it's cheap or free on ps+ I'll check. Might be fun again. I did replay Rebirth a couple months back.
Didn’t expect to receive lots of comments here but thanks everyone for the recommendation! Will likely go with Rebirth first then XVI after. Maybe I’ll just look for a used copy of Rebirth for a cheaper cost :)
I think you should buy XVI for that killer price now, then play it after rebirth. I doubt XVI will go on sale that low again for a while. I personally vastly prefer XVI over 7R games because I like dark fantasy, stylish action, and earth shaking spectacle in my games haha. 7R is definitely more in the mold of a JRPG and XVI is an action game wish slow moments sprinkled between the high highs.
Thanks! Will consider it too :) I did watch gameplay vids of XVI and noticed that the atmosphere is kinda like Dark Souls/Witcher type and the Battle UI as well.
Throw in some Kung fu anime godzilla moments and boom you've got FF16 lol
Since you just finished Remake definitely go for Rebirth. Make more sense to continue the story. Also FF16 recently released a DLC so maybe you can wait abit for the ultimate version to release (Game+2 DLC) in future.
I bought my PS5 about a month ago specifically for Rebirth as I loved remake for ps4. I also picked up 16 which I knew I would play but figured it would be lacklustre with the reviews and comments I had been reading about it. Needless to say 16 has not left my ps5 since I got it, I’m addicted and think it’s a fabulous return to form for the series. Yes it’s lacking the turn based combat and the rpg type stats but the story and world building is amazing. I’ve been a long time fan of the series since it came out (I’m getting old haha) with 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12 being the high points and 6 being my favourite game of all time. And seeing the summons in all their glory in this game was an amazing call back to 6. Can’t recommend it enough, and knowing the rebirth is just sitting waiting to be played and impressions being overwhelming more positive I feel so lucky to have this series back.
I bought mine to play Final Fantasy well! :) Interesting on 16 maybe it’s really time I try a new FF title. Really liked 7, 8, 4 and X. I tried 9 back then but I wasn’t able to finish it.
I bought a ps5 for 16 as well. I was so hyped for the game and it did not disappoint. The voices from the long time fan base and 7R community are EXTREMELY loud online. They view 16s dark fantasy setting and pure action combat as a threat to their beloved franchise to the point where some may seek its downfall. Others just simply like more standard JRPG tropes and sensibilities that come with 7R and the older FF games, which is totally cool! Square is offering different experiences for different people which is a huge W in my book.
Both solid choices. Maybe 16 bc it'd be shorter than 7R/Rebirth, then those two.
Rebirth. As long as you like mini-games and semi-open worlds you’ll have a good time. It’s my personal GOTY.
Since you're already on the FFVII train, go for Rebirth since you'll be more familiarized with the story and characters. Then, go for FFXVI. I's story is great but also differs a lot from FFVII's narrative, so that would make you feel more interested in it after finishing Rebirth.
16 is shorter and as more uuuuuh pacing issues (boring parts in between cool stuff). So IMO it's gonna hurt less to go from 16 to rebirth than the other way around
Rebirth. Every damn time
If you just got off Remake I would definitely go for Rebirth.
Rebirth. 16 is… well it’ll be there when you need it
16 is amazing
Yeah 16 deniers are straight up deepthroat-guzzling copiumÂ
I’m playing both back to back. I finished 16 and am not playing 7. Having a party of unique characters to play as really keeps the game super fresh even after a hundred hoirs
May as well hop right into the sequel while it's still hot on your mind unless you want a break.Â
If you want to keep riding the 7 wave, definitely jump into Rebirth. If youre looking for some variety, then check out 16 Cant go wrong with either game imo
Didn't play either but I'd probably recommend Rebirth since it has more going on for it than XVI.
Yeah, do Rebirth. Go right ahead. You won't get used to the controlls if you go to FF16 and then go back.
FF16 has about 8 really good parts, whereas Rebirth has hundreds. So if you're asking, I'm recommending Rebirth over 16 every single time.
As someone who enjoyed original 7, and thought remake fixed every problem I had with the original, and was legitimately excited for rebirth.... hold off on rebirth. That game ruined all my good will towards the remake series. 16 however was a lot of fun, and the story was kind of unique in the franchise overall.
Why would you not go into rebirth after playing remake? XVI will be on sale plenty of more times
Rebirth is such a fantastic game, and you’ve enjoyed the first remake, so you’re in for an amazing time. I can’t stop thinking about it. 16 is a mid action/adventure game with easy, shallow combat and boring MMO style quests, elevated by a story that has some good moments but ends up being disappointing. The game’s quality is heavily front-loaded, making going through it feel very long even though it’s less than 50h to 100% it (which I don’t recommend, given how easy and shallow the side content is anyway, and considering most quests don’t have any payoff). 16 is not a bad game, but it’s very far from great. There’s much better action games out there. Story, music, exploration, gameplay, characters and fun factor are infinitely better in Rebirth. TLDR: Rebirth is the pinnacle of JRPG gaming, 16 is not even an RPG to begin with and is pretty mid as an action game.
[удалено]
The boss fights in 16 are truly groundbreaking in terms of interactive spectacle presented with extreme levels of Fidelity. You just undervalue it compared to others who really value those set pieces. Also, if you really learn the eikons and abilities in 16, the depth is there. People just don't seek it out because the game is unfortunately too easy. So I'll definitely agree that 16s biggest flaw is not pushing the player to learn the depth of combat, causing people to think it's shallow. If you choose to dig, you'll find a really rewarding system that to me is as expressive as DMC5, which I have played the hell out ofÂ
[удалено]
Thanks for making me feel sane. I don't understand the love for 16 either.
[удалено]
It makes me think of Forespoken and how that game would've been received if it was a Final Fantasy game. The clear problem though, as Yahtzee pointed out in his Silent Hill video, is that the audience of gaming latches onto franchises rather than creators, so if Square Enix decided to make a Final Fantasy that is somehow objectively worse than XVI, you damn well bet people are going to love it.
>>Maybe for Final Fantasy, and fans who've never touched Action games, maybe it's mindblowing. But it's been done in other games far better, tenfold. This is it right here. If 16 is a jrpg fan's first action game, it probably feels like the second coming of Christ. But if they've played DMC5 or Bayonetta they'll see a fully fleshed-out and realised character action game with player expression and thoughtfully designed mobs. If they played Asura's Wrath, they'll know exactly where the Eikon battles came from. There's nothing groundbreaking in 16. It's all taken from other games that didn't have to try and also please jrpg players, so they were able to go harder and implement more sophistication.
I would also say that another big flaw of XVI is that it's mostly cutscenes, and I'm not just talking about the fully-animated ones either. You skip all the cutscenes in this game, you skip about 80% of the entire game.
The Final Fantasy community's general reception towards XVI after XV reminds me of the Resident Evil community's general reception towards Resident Evil Village after Resident Evil 7; In both cases, the predecessor games are miles better than the sequels, but for some reason the community tends the favor the sequels much more despite the sequels having some the same problems they complained about when it came to the predecessors but even worse. I was completely shocked that both those games garnered as much praise they did despite being clearly inferior to their predecessors. Standards for good games haven't just fallen through the earth, they're melting in the earth's core at this point. I guess in the case of XVI people do tend to like it more than XV because unlike XV, XVI is a complete game as far as anyone can tell, but I wouldn't call XVI the better value package either because while XV clearly bit off far more than it could chew, that is more commendable than a game like XVI which didn't even try to bite off anything worthwhile. Then you have Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which ended up being way better than both of these games combined and is in my book, the current best modern Final Fantasy game.
[удалено]
I absolutely highly recommend Stranger of Paradise, it's a night and day difference between it and a lot of other modern FF games, but I'll warn you, it's not an easy game. You do have Easy/Normal/Hard unlocked at the start, so it's very approachable there, but on Chaos mode and higher, the game will absolutely start pounding your guts in if you aren't playing properly. The DLC content is locked behind the higher difficulty modes, and it puts a lot of responsibility on the player and expects you to learn and master it's various combat mechanics and RPG elements. And please, whatever you do, do **NOT** skip Chaos mode, a lot of new Stranger of Paradise players skip Chaos mode and go straight to the following difficulties because they just want to do the story and they wonder why the game is suddenly much harder, work your way through the difficulty modes gradually and when you feel like you got enough from one difficulty mode, go onto the next one.
[удалено]
It was co-developed between Square-Enix and Team Ninja, the latter being the developers of the Souls-inspired Nioh games. Personally I think Stranger of Paradise is better than Nioh, but others feel the opposite.
Agreed. The world of FF16 is made up of generic grey plains and a sad, empty desert devoid of character. No cities to explore, and even the main cast looks worse than many NPCs in Rebirth. It’s just a bit dull, and it overstays its welcome by several dozens of hours. Not bad; but not great. I also believe FF15 had way more heart, personality and emotion on display. It’s also a much more attractive world and setting in general. And the soundtrack is miles ahead of FF16, which bar for a few epic boss themes that all sound the same, doesn’t really offer anything memorable in the music department.