Is Final Fantasy XVI Good?

Ah, a new Final Fantasy. This is definitely one of those famous franchises in gaming that takes a long time between each entry, making new games landmark occasions. And this was a divisive among the community, hmm. Well so was 15, and 13, and 12, and even the MMO 14 had a rough initial launch…. At this point, a new FF being accepted by the fandom at large would be the bigger shock. But as such, this makes FF16 very much one of those games some will love and others won’t get into at all. I very much fall into the former category, but I will describe the aspects of the game in some detail here so you can decide for yourself. Onward to Valisthea, where fire can be killed with even more fire. (Just a note here, this is a newer game and there will be some spoilers here, but there shouldn’t be anything major past the first 25% or so)

10. Graphics

Clive and Torgal pondering a drink

As a PS5 exclusive, it is not shocking that FF16 looks beautiful. This extends to all aspects of gameplay, from simple exploration to combat and the striking cutscenes. It is worth noting there is a noticeable difference in quality between the fancier in-engine cutscenes and everything else, but gaming will take a bit to get past that. It's not the game’s fault, the hardware just isn’t there yet to make it seamless. 

9. World

One of Valisthea’s many massive Mothercrystals

The world of FF16, known as Valisthea, is composed of two continents, Storm and Ash (creative names, I know). This is a world wearing its influence from Game of Thrones on its sleeve: it is a grim fantasy world where death can strike quickly and unexpectedly. This is a feeling present throughout the game, and you won’t forget it.

Also notable here is how magic works. Not everyone can use magic, only a select few have this ability. The “lucky” are the more powerful Dominants, who each have the power of an Eikon (basically one of the summons from previous games in the series) and can harness its power and even turn into it. These people are few in number, only one for each of the Eikons, and they are essentially forced into high politics by their country. 

The Bearers are less lucky. These people can use magic but at a much lower power than Dominants. And they are forced into slavery by nearly everyone as soon as their magic is made evident, being given a mark on their cheek and labeled as Branded. It's a dark system, but unfortunately believable that people might act this way. And as such, just from this alone, magic is established as not a very good thing in Valisthea.

8. Combat

The clashing of swords always livens up a battle

And here is where the main conflict amongst the fanbase came from. Despite being a mainline numbered Final Fantasy, the turn-based combat the series was known for is completely gone. 

In its place is a more modern action RPG, drawing comparisons to the likes of Bayonetta and Kingdom Hearts. Simple fast paced action with special abilities you can recharge, and dodging is essential and tricky to time if you don’t keep the helper accessory on. It's very much an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master system, and I don’t really have much else to add. Bit of a shame to see the classic system go, but it still exists in plenty of other games, and action simply suits this game better. 

7. Fun Factor

Clive: “Do I look like I’m having fun?”

The characters in FF16, particularly Clive, are not going to be having fun here. But as the player, much of the experience is quite enjoyable. If you like action games with good stories and characters and don’t mind them getting dark, there is a lot to enjoy here. And you can pet the dog!

6. Replayability 

When fire meets fire

FF16 is a very linear game, with a bit of missable content but that’s about it in that regard. You beat the game and you’re returned to right before the final boss with the opportunity to finish up any optional content you missed.

But then it hits it out of the park with its New Game Plus. Everything you’d expect to carry over does indeed carry over, but you unlock a new difficulty mode you are highly encouraged to select. Called Final Fantasy Mode, this scales up the levels of everything in the game to provide challenge anew even if you maxed out your level before. In addition, enemies from later in the game will appear much earlier, throwing you off even if your levels are appropriate. For those who saw everything the game has to offer normally, this is a great change of pace for round two.

5. Side Content

Oh boy, delivering food, what fun!

There is a lot of side content here for such a linear game, and it is… mixed. Starting with the actual side quests, a lot of them, especially early on, are lackluster, to put it mildly. A lot of fetch quests that don’t add much and don’t reward you well either.

But then suddenly, the final side quests as you near the end of the game are practically essential to the story. As an action game, Clive doesn’t have a proper party, and so many of his allies aren’t directly involved in the main story. Instead, their stories are tied up in these endgame side quests. It even goes as far as two of them giving the ending a completely different viewing if you’ve played them before finishing the game. So if you’re not interested in doing everything, maybe at least look into these particular ones, as the game will end much better for it.

Aside from these, there are trials where you must beat enemies with one Eikon’s abilities under a time limit. These are fine I guess, but it's a bit annoying some items are locked behind completing them. Finally of note is the bounty hunts, which pit you against strong enemies that put some bosses to shame. These are very much worth doing, as some are even unique enemies only fought through these. 

4. Music

Turns out fire meets fire delivers epic music, who knew

Here it is, the single aspect of the game that sold me the most on it. I’ve only included a few tracks from early on so as to not spoil the later game, as this music should absolutely be experienced for the first time in the game. Music is of course a very subjective thing to compare, but for me, this is one of my favorite gaming soundtracks in years and it complements the game perfectly. Very well done indeed.

FINAL FANTASY XVI Original Soundtrack – Trailer

Final Fantasy XVI OST - Battle Theme

FINAL FANTASY XVI Original Soundtrack - Away (Phoenix Theme OST)

3. Characters

Cid is the best and I will hear no arguments

New Final Fantasy game means a new Cid, and the one on offer here has been accepted by the internet at large as one of the best. He is a very capable leader who cares for his people, is a force to be reckoned with in battle, and has an excellent appearance and fitting voice to boot. And of course, he’s a dad as you meet his daughter later, also one of the best characters.

Jill is another prominent character, as the Dominant of Shiva and Clive’s longtime friend and later girlfriend. She isn’t quite as magnetic a personality as some of the others, but she is still an important member of the team whom Clive can depend on. The same goes for Torgal, the good dog who is the closest you have to a second party member.

And as for Clive himself, to say he’s had a rough life would be putting it mildly. Within the first hours of the game, he witnesses the death of his brother, who he was supposed to protect, and the fall of his kingdom at large. And misfortune follows him after this, never really going away. Not surprising given the nature of the game, but poor Clive just can’t catch a break here.

That’s only scratching the surface of the many characters in this game, and not even addressing the villains. Among these are the very femme fatale Benedikta and the angry man Hugo, both of whom are excellent characters in their own right. Going into much more here would be spoiling later parts of the game though, so I will leave it at that.

2. Story 

I’m suspecting these people like crystals

This is a tricky topic to address, as unless I missed something, the trailers for this game did not address the actual main goal of the heroes. As such, I will provide a bit more explanation of the world here in ways that will tie into that central narrative without spoiling it.

In addition to magic being a social burden in Valisthea, it is an environmental one as well. A bit of a way into the game, you find out that overuse of magic is causing the Blight, an ever-growing stretch of land where nothing grows and life is nearly unsustainable. Most people in Valisthea are unaware of the exact causes though and continue to wage war, aiming to conquer other nations and their Mothercrystals. Meaning they would be in control of a dead world. The victors, but at what cost? Hope they enjoy ruling a barren wasteland.

Also worth bringing up here is the active time lore system. At any point during a cutscene you can press on the PS5’s controller touchpad and bring up relevant lore bits from the in-game encyclopedia, filling you in on any lore you missed or didn’t quite understand. This is one of the best features I have ever seen in an RPG and should become an industry standard, as it makes understanding the lore and stories of these massive games so much easier.

1. Eikon Combat

Final Fantasy XVI is here for all your Kaiju battle sim needs

And here we are back at combat, for there is another matter to address. These Dominants I mentioned before? Well of course Clive is one, Ifrit to be specific. And you  end up fighting these Eikons in Eikon on Eikon combat, which when combined with the epic music makes for thrilling gameplay.

This combat is still controlled very similarly to the standard Clive combat, just with more cutscenes with QTEs and other unusual elements thrown in. It is tricky and unnecessary to try to explain the exact specifics, as it is pretty self-explanatory. But there is a reason most of these fights are considered by many to be the best parts of the game.

So with all said, Final Fantasy XVI is a very worthwhile entry to this landmark series. It may have thrown out the combat that made it known, but everything else feels very much Final Fantasy. Clive fits in well with the ranks of protagonists, and there’s even a Cid. And did I mention you can pet the dog? Pet the dog, Torgal is a good boy.

Score: 9.5/10

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