It’s called Theater of the Mind, I think. It used to be the way we played ADnD, but I guess that the newer editions pushed the minis-and-grid with their more tactical playstyles.

That’s a very good point. When I DM, I always let the players avoid any unnecessary rolling, especially if they get into character and describe what they do, if so they want. Something like, “you can skip rolling, and this happens, or you can roll and try a better outcome, but also risk a worst one.” Works wonders with all kinds of skills. For example, (in PF2e), you can spend two actions to climb that wall, with no need of rolling, or spend one action and an Athletics check to see if you can do it faster.

The author may have a good point–though I’m honestly not entirely sure they do–, but even if the D20 vs DC turns the experience into a gamist simulation, what is exactly the problem? Personally, I’d rather play a game of dice than “mother may I” with the DM.

I’ve been playing since 2e, and I very much enjoy the mechanical aspect of the game, to the point that I grew tired of 5e lax and vague rules and moved to PF. That doesn’t mean 5e is bad, it’s just something different from what I want, and that is ok.

I am liking the game so far, but the dreadful drop rate on anything past rarity 1 is rapidly killing all excitement I have for it. It feels such a waste of time and disappointment to hunt higher rarity monsters, break their parts even, just to get a bunch of rarity 1 scales.

DM Mono for me! Fun game. There were some fonts that I liked, but seemed to have some kind of bug when displaying consecutive f, or fl or ft pairs. Not sure if the fonts themselves look like that or if it was a rendering issue.

Me! I never had the chance to play the first one, but this looks like the kind of game I would love.

Thanks for the answer!

I just don’t get what’s their goal, though. Seems like such a silly thing. Like made just to get a buyer and then retire for life.

deleted by creator

Can we get a pixel remaster of the two portable FF Tactics Advance? Love those games but it’s very difficult to play them nowadays.

While I agree with you that the game fell flat in many areas, I think a 5/10 is a bit too harsh. Of course, it’s your opinion and I’m not telling you it’s wrong, but for me a 5/10 is a game that is barely playable, either filled with bugs, or visually an ugly mess, or just plain boring. FF16 does indeed have its shortcomings, but it is still a beautiful game that performs great most of the time.

That said, I think the game would have benefitted from a shorter story. By the end of the game I was just tired of the simple gameplay and the anemic side systems. As many others have said, the crafting is barely an afterthought, and so is the equipment and items. I did enjoy the sidequests, especially in the later half. I think they did wonders to flesh out the characters, and that’s why I can’t agree with OP’s statements that the characters were bland. If anything, that’s the strongest point in the game.

All in all, I think the game is an improvement over ff15 (although I enjoyed ff15’s weapon systems more than I did ff16’s Eikons), and it’s overall a solid game. I also enjoyed it way more than FF7, but I think many will disagree with this take.

I do think the game does not feel like a proper Final Fantasy, but it is not due to the action combat. It’s just lacking many elements of the gameplay that make ff feel like ff. No status effects (save for Shiva’s freezing), no elemental advantage and immunities, no classes, no healing, basically no party. It also feels a bit smaller in scope than the traditional ff. The twin islands feel small, and thus the stakes never feel grand, even if we go against god by the end of the game. That’s not to say the game is bad, it’s just lacking that FFesque feeling.

Finally, Torgal bestest boy ever. Fight me.