Final Fantasy has always been a franchise that has pushed boundaries by enveloping players in strong gameplay, creating engrossing worlds, and memorable characters. From the original pixelated games to the many wild spin-offs, Final Fantasy has never shied away from going all in on any given project and this year is no different. Final Fantasy XVI is another great example of the franchise diving into a new genre while still feeling like part of the Final Fantasy universe. It may be a bit slow at times, but overall this game is a great way for anybody to approach or continue their love for the Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy XVI delivers an action RPG that is worthy of the next generation of consoles and technology. Between the massive variety of attacks, unique ways to interact with combat, rewards for precision dodges, and creative combos, every battle feels exciting, engaging, and dangerous. I also enjoy how punishing the game can be if the player wants it to be. It can also be just as forgiving. Players have the choice between various equipment early on that can help them with dodges, potions, and other things to keep the game as easy or complex and difficult as they want. The only complaint that I have with the gameplay is that there are a lot of cut scenes that break up the exploration/combat flow. I don’t think I ever went twenty minutes without some kind of cutscene forcing me to just hold or put down my controller, be it a brief conversation or a long, drawn-out, choreographed fight. The story is really great and can help combat not feel so exhausting, but it does feel very routine after a while to fight some people for ten minutes, watch a ten-minute cut scene, fight for another ten minutes, and have another five-minute cut scene and so on and so on. Fans of JRPGs or other role-playing games, in general, may be used to this to some degree, but it does happen quite a lot in Final Fantasy XVI.
This brings me to the actual story. It is really good, it really is. Seeing genuine character growth and a more mature approach to the Final Fantasy franchise is refreshing. It just takes more time than I would have liked to become really engaging with its drama and significant plot points. I wish certain story beats happened a lot sooner and the pacing and little bits of filler were tightened up. However, this game is far more akin to something like Game of Thrones than it is your traditional “hero fights the main villain to save the world” kind of story. And for that level of complexity, it makes sense that the game has so many cut scenes, so much plot, and a slower pace to have everything make sense.
The last thing to really address here is the visuals and audio of the game. The soundtrack is awesome, battles are wonderfully heightened with epic scores of intense music. Also, each swing of the sword and a burst of fire sound incredibly crisp and terribly tangible, as if I could close my eyes and feel those things happening in front of me in real life. And the visuals are stunning in ways I didn’t expect. All of the leather, metal, distant vistas, and lighting are near perfect. But the faces and character animations still feel like they are from the tail end of last-generation consoles, not cutting edge. They aren’t bad, don’t get me wrong, there just seems to be a soft filter on everything that isn’t perfectly crisp to hide imperfections, like I’m looking at a mediocre Instagram makeup filter on each character’s face.
Overall, Final Fantasy XVI is extremely exciting, wonderfully engaging, and some of the most fun I’ve had this year, period. There are just small bits of story that I wish we were a bit more streamlined, but I also audibly gasped or cheered in excitement when obtaining new powers, viewing certain cut scenes, or engaging in mind-blowing battles. All-in-all, Final Fantasy XVI gives the players the chance to actually live out the sense of climatic battles that players have always imagined or seen in past Final Fantasy games and movies.
