I’ve seen people praise the combat of this game, so I had to speak up. I’ve even seen people who didn’t like the game overall say that the combat is “solid” and the strongest aspect of the game. I disagree.

This game is a mixed bag. Even after starting to play it months ago, having beaten it, plus the DLC (I regret buying that), and having played it for a total of about 40 hours perhaps, I’m still not sure what to think of this game.

It has high highs but also low lows. The visual spectacle on some sequences are the best gaming has to offer. The political intrigue, the worldbuilding, and the plot are excellent. The Active Lore System, or whatever they call it, is very innovative and serves a real need the game has. There is so much good about this game. But there’s also a lot of bad: Most characters are bland. The game has a lot of filler. Sometimes the game feels like a boring MMO. Some gameplay systems are extremely shallow, like the crafting system, and the gear system in general. It is such a strange game to critique.

The game also has a huge problem with difficulty: Throughout the vast majority of the game, I didn’t feel challenged in any way. It seems like they streamlined the game for a broad audience a little bit too much. The game has many accessibility options, which I think it’s great, but it only goes one way: It provides accessibility to the casual gamer. But if you are someone who requires to be mechanically challenged in a game to stay engaged, there’s nothing for you. They only have one hard difficulty mode, but you have to first beat the game to unlock it. Which makes it useless. There’s no way in hell I’m playing this game again. Are you serious? They seriously have to stop locking difficulty modes like this.

There isn’t a single gameplay system in the game with any kind of decent depth: The crafting system. The Gear system. The combat build system. The dog system. It’s all… empty. Like they were legally required to add these systems and that’s it. There’s nothing to them! Seriously, you literally will just pick the sword with the single stat that is higher (Swords have two stats, but they are always about the same value anyway), and that’s basically it! It’s an absolute joke. There is basically no RPG mechanics in this game. None. You can give commands to your dog, but it’s all filler and useless. The dog won’t ever make a difference in a battle. There is no party setup. You control one dude, all the time. Just one dude. Yes, NPC’s will follow you and they will “fight”, but they’re just background. They won’t ever contribute to a battle, or make a difference at all. In reality, it’s just you the main character, versus enemies.

There’s not even depth with items. There’s like 5 item types in the entire game!! What the hell is going on? How can this game be called “Final Fantasy”? The only items that make a difference are potions. So you’ll just use potions when you’re about to die. That’s all there is to the item system. What if you can’t afford potions? Don’t worry, every merchant in the game sells them very cheap, and they get automatically refilled if you die. Yeah, this game is a joke, mechanically. If you see this game as just its game systems and mechanics, it’s going to be extremely disappointing. There’s no way around it.

You know, I’m not necessarily against this! Not every videogame has to have very deep gameplay systems. A game can be about the visual art, or about the story, or the experience. It’s totally okay! I just think this game could have benefited from more system depth. The game is just too basic for how long it is. Also it’s called “Final Fantasy”, so you have some expectations going in that will get crushed.

The Combat Is Bad Too.

So, about the combat. Yeah, it’s bad. Stop fooling yourselves. The combat is also bad. This fact is obvious if you recently played a game with an actual good combat system, like Nioh (yeah I just beat that game. good game). I’m gonna break up my argument into bullet points:

• The basic abilities are useless
• So few slots for the actual impactful abilities
• Most abilities are useless.
• No elemental systems. Yeah, all types of damage are the SAME. You don’t even have to think about what kind of damage you do to the enemies. You just spam abilities.
• The main point:

There are very few “types” of things you can do in combat. The abilities are basically just “deal damage”, with a different visual flair. The only interesting abilities are the ones you need to time them to avoid damage and to deal more damage, aka a “parry”. The Titan set is one of the few ability sets that make the combat a bit more fun, because you need timing to “parry” attacks, and to block. The vast majority of abilities are simply “you deal damage”. Sometimes, the ability is an area-of-effect, so it’s better for multiple enemies.

There’s another type of abilities that are so, so bad: The ones that you need to wait and interrupt the flow of combat for them to trigger. A lot of “Circle” abilities are like this, for many ability sets. It just makes the game even more boring, because you just have to wait around away from enemies for a bit, so you can finally deal damage. They add nothing to the combat.

The other thing you will do in combat is dodge. Press R1 when you’re about to get hit.

That’s literally what the combat in this game is: Press R1 to dodge, while you spam all abilities available. You then wait for all the cooldowns, and you repeat. There is no thought. There is no depth. There’s no strategy. It’s just R1, and R2 + face button.

Sometimes, enemies have interesting patterns you have to learn to dodge attacks. I’ll give it that. Some bosses are fun to play against.

The main scenario sometimes breaks up the monotony in the action, with Eikon battles. These are cool. Visually stunning. It’s one of the strengths in the game. But there are long stretches in the game in which nothing interesting will happen, and you will be very bored. I don’t think the DLC is worth it. I regret buying the 2 DLC’s.

To Balance This out: The Game Isn’t Really That Bad

I still think the game, as a whole, is a good game. I generally had a good time with it. I think the story, the worldbuilding, the music, the visual spectacle, make this game all worth it. As a whole, it makes for a good, memorable experience. I’ve been very negative in this article, only because I’m focusing on the negative. After getting through the whole game, I couldn’t believe what people were saying online about its combat. I don’t think this combat is good. It has many problems. It can be fun for a few hours but not for many more.

I’d say they really need to add depth to their systems in the next game. Or just have less systems. Add more party members, maybe? The party system is one of the staples of the franchise. It’s a shame you only play as one dude in this entry.

Overly simple systems are not necessarily bad, but for a supposed “RPG Epic adventure” like Final Fantasy, which is dozens of hours long, you really need system depth to keep me engaged. Either that, or give me a serious mechanical challenge, in the style of Sekiro.

I think the FF7 Remake series has a much, much better combat system. They should get inspired by it, for Final Fantasy 17. Though I only played the first FF7 Remake. Will play Rebirth soon.

Screenshots / Videos

The game look very good tho’. I took some screenshots

The combat flows very well sometimes.