Verdict
Final Fantasy 16 ticks loads of containers – fluid fight, epic boss battles and a fascinating story – however for each win, there’s a spectacular fail, be it the tasteless semi-open world devoid of a lot to do or the uninspired fetch quest-style aspect quests. It’s a recreation at its greatest when its focus is narrowed, however that doesn’t occur typically sufficient.
Pros
Epic boss battlesLargely partaking storylineTypical Final Fantasy fight
Cons
Semi-open world is blandBoring, uninspired fetch quest-style aspect missions
Platforms:PS5 (Exclusive for first six months)
Release date:22 June 2023
Genre:Action RPG
Introduction
After falling in love with the Final Fantasy franchise with Final Fantasy 15 and totally having fun with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, it’s protected to say I used to be excited concerning the prospect of a very new Final Fantasy expertise to sink my enamel into.
The Final Fantasy collection is beloved for its layered tales, hand-crafted worlds and, most significantly, the epic, heart-pumping grand battles. But whereas that’s nonetheless considerably the case with the most recent title within the collection, I discover myself craving for one thing extra. Here are my ideas.
Storyline and marketing campaign
Set in a quasi-medieval continentSuffers from drained cliches 40+ hour marketing campaign
Final Fantasy 16 goals to be grittier than the usual ‘teens trying to save the world’ affair frequent amongst FF titles, evident from the very begin of the sport.
The title’s prologue centres round a teenage Clive Rosfield and his brother Joshua, culminating in a battle inside fort partitions that sees betrayal, slaughter and the notably heartbreaking dying of an particularly courageous Chocobo.
Image Credit: Square Enix
The world of Valisthea is a fancy one; the quasi-medieval continent is threatened by in-fighting between warring dynasties backed by their Dominants, basically vessels for god-like creatures to channel their power in epic-scale wars.
But, from comparatively early on, you be taught of a second, extra ominous menace; the Blight. Threatening to destroy your entire continent by destroying all fauna and flora it touches, it’s all the way down to Clive Rosfield, his dominant and a rising roster of allies to avoid wasting the world and its inhabitants.
It’s speculated to be extra grounded than people who got here earlier than it, and whereas the prologue and different notably memorable elements of the sport helped promote this nicely, huge swathes of the sport fall again onto that growingly drained cliche of a gaggle of individuals in a position to tackle something and survive by merely believing they may.
That’d be tremendous if it have been a comparatively brief marketing campaign, however over the course of 40+ hours till the credit, the notion of ‘teamwork can make the impossible possible’ turned slightly tiresome.
Image Credit: Square Enix
That’s to not say the story isn’t entertaining; it has all the everyday flare and plot twists of a Final Fantasy title, full with unexpected betrayals and a narrative that’s exhausting to foretell till you’re virtually on the finish of the sport.
It is a narrative of unimaginable excessive peaks and astonishingly bleak lows; when it’s good, it’s amazingly charming and thrilling, however when it’s dangerous, it may be a problem to energy by way of – particularly with no potential to skip most cinematic cutscenes, a few of which go on for greater than 10 minutes. Classic Final Fantasy, amirite?
Exploration
Semi open-world feels lifelessLittle incentive for exploration NPCs aren’t very reactive
Final Fantasy 16 is designed in an analogous semi-open world vogue to Final Fantasy 7 quite than the absolutely open Final Fantasy 15, which was a little bit of a disappointment contemplating how vibrant and lived-in the dominion of Eos felt. By comparability, Final Fantasy 16’s Valisthea feels nearly barren – and that’s not by design.
The semi-open segments of the world are not less than various by way of their design and the wildlife that may be discovered, but it surely doesn’t actually encourage off-the-beaten-track exploration. There’s little or no in the way in which of secrets and techniques to search out, fascinating aspect quests to bump into and even the unimaginable in-world boss battles that have been current in Final Fantasy 15.
Image Credit: Square Enix
You do, at across the midpoint of the sport, start to find notably robust beasts within the open world however these pale compared to the ‘main’ boss battles in FF16, in addition to people who you’d randomly come throughout in FF15. There’s nothing just like the mountain-sized tortoise, Adamantoise, right here.
Even the varied settlements that you just uncover really feel stagnant and quite uninspired. The NPCs repeat the identical one or two strains of dialogue whereas consistently performing the identical job whatever the time of day or whether or not there’s a conflict occurring simply outdoors their partitions. In an period with unimaginable open-world video games like Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, the open world right here appears fundamental; one thing that’d most likely go within the early 2010s however actually not in 2023.
Combat
Challenging multi-part boss encountersHuge arsenal of unlockable fight abilitiesExcessive cutscenes
Final Fantasy 16 is at its greatest when the semi-open world side morphs right into a extra linear setting, with fixed Hollywood blockbuster-level cutscenes and a captivating roster of British voice performances (together with a number of celebrities) that helped hold me .
It’s additionally the place you’ll discover a few of the greatest boss battles within the title. These are difficult multi-part battles that’ll seemingly take you a number of makes an attempt to sort out, with impressively highly effective counterparts that, at instances, appear unattainable to take care of.
Image Credit: Square Enix
But with an ever-expanding barrage of melee fight expertise and Eikon talents that allow you to hurl lightning bolts, scorch the earth and even freeze enemies stable, you may slowly chip away on the daunting well being bar.
I wouldn’t describe common fight as notably difficult although; there aren’t any actual ability combos so that you can benefit from, and even within the hardest boss battles, options like utterly replenishing your potions between makes an attempt can rapidly change the sway of a battle.
Combat is at its greatest in these high-octane boss battles with unimaginable environments, elemental results and explosions that’d put a Micheal Bay film to disgrace. Quicktime cutscene actions imply you by no means fairly calm down throughout a battle, even when management is taken away from you.
My solely criticism is that a few of the most epic elements of those off-the-scale boss battles happen inside cutscenes, which generally is a little disheartening after spending 10 minutes slowly chipping away at a Dominant’s well being bar.
Image Credit: Square Enix
That all stated, Final Fantasy 16 is a recreation with an apparent formulation; overcome some form of adversity, advance on a mom crystal, battle an Eikon and acquire entry to new fight powers. It’s basically the identical course of copied and pasted a number of instances.
There’s nothing notably flawed with this idea, however the repetition feels very evident right here, with the one actual adjustments in the way in which of differing environments and enemies you face off.
Side quests
Repetitive aspect quests take up bulk of gameSpecial aspect quests supply extra well-written tales
Frankly, there’s a dismal providing of aspect quests out there in Final Fantasy 16 – a few of the least impressed I’ve seen in any recreation lately.
The overwhelming majority of those aspect quests have little to no influence on the story or world you reside in, with most boiling all the way down to what are basically fetch quests. Go right here, seize that factor, save that individual, slaughter that creature and convey the spoils again to me. It’s the identical thought time and again, at the same time as you progress additional into the story, a lot in order that I utterly ignored most aspect missions from early on within the recreation.
The solely exception to that is particular aspect quests, that are barely extra concerned and well-written than the slew of low-quality quests that smatter the semi-open world environments. However, even they’re solely there to function a method to improve your tools. Collecting uncommon herbs permits for creating stronger potions, whereas serving to your depressed blacksmith end in new, highly effective tools out there for smelting.
It works nicely as a gameplay mechanic to enhance base stats and make tougher late-game enemies slightly simpler to deal with, but it surely’s not woven nicely into the tapestry of Final Fantasy 16’s marketing campaign; in truth, they’re very simply missed until you’re consistently analyzing your map.
Latest offers
Should you purchase it?
You’re a fan of huge boss battles: Final Fantasy 16 is at its greatest in its epic boss battles, a few of which lengthen past the confines of your entire planet.
You prefer to discover open-world environments: Though the semi-open-world environments of Final Fantasy 16 are giant and various, there’s little or no in the way in which of secrets and techniques to find.
Final Thoughts
As a successor to the vastly in style Final Fantasy 15, Final Fantasy 16 leaves a bitter style within the mouth. Sure, the essential components of a Final Fantasy recreation are all current and accounted for – partaking boss battles stuffed with spectacular visible results, fluid fight and an fascinating storyline – however for each win, there’s a large fail, be it the tasteless semi-open world devoid of a lot to do or the frankly uninspired unending listing of fetch-style aspect quests.
Charming voice performing, a plethora of twists and turns and Hollywood-esque reduce scenes helped hold me entertained by way of nearly all of the 40-hour marketing campaign, however as soon as it was over, I used to be achieved. There was no urge to discover the semi-open world and even dive into the brand new Game+ mode. It’s very a lot a one-and-done affair, which hasn’t been the case for earlier Final Fantasy titles I’ve performed.
Check out our Best Games of 2023 and Best PS5 Games for extra choices.
How we take a look at
We play each recreation we overview by way of to the tip, outdoors of sure exceptions the place getting 100% completion, like Skyrim, is near unattainable to do. When we don’t absolutely end a recreation earlier than reviewing it, we are going to all the time alert the reader.
Completed 40-hour marketing campaign
FAQs
Will Final Fantasy 16 come to different platforms? Sony has secured a six-month exclusivity interval, on the finish of which it may theoretically make an look on different platforms like PC and Xbox Series X|S.