Terrible sales obviously. Here's a bunch of my opinions as someone who has yet to play the game but certainly wants to at some point:
- I don't have a current-gen console (yet?), and I'm very reluctant to pay very much for digital games. Most of the digital games I buy I pay less than 10 euros for.
- Judging by the trailers, the game has much of the Final Fantasy magic I don't recall XV having in either the trailers or the game.
- It's an action RPG, and it sounds like the RPG elements aren't very heavy. This is not what I want from a Final Fantasy game, so you'd better pull it off really well - and it doesn't sound like they really succeeded. It's probably easier to pull off a good turn-based battle system or something comparable, and as a bonus a proper party full of interesting characters fits much better in the game. So much more opportunities for good writing!
- Did I mention the party thing yet? The vibe really changes when you focus on just one character, and I think you can stand out much better with a proper party when most games are focused on just one character.
- I don't really like the medieval vibe. It's really strong. I would generally like Final Fantasy games to have a notable amount of tech stuff as well, and I don't recall seeing much of that in the trailers for XVI. For comparison, I love the setting of X, my favourite Final Fantasy game by far (I've missed out on many so far, mind you).
I don't know how many of the design choices were based on what Square Enix believes would be good, or perhaps even just sustainable, for the series, but it certainly seems like they need to do better if changing the proven formula (since a decade or so ago, I guess) is what they want. I don't think the old battle system is necessarily good in the long run either, but at the same time, I think Square Enix needs to take steps towards it somehow and make it work. Just for the record, I didn't grow up with ATB and find it a bit dull today (I loved X's twist on it though, because it's similar but different), but I do generally appreciate tactical games, as few of them as might actually fit in my 'schedule'. Anyway, with the current direction Final Fantasy is just going to be another action RPG series with a Final Fantasy setting, akin to what might fit spin-offs.
