Final Fantasy XVI – Standard Edition (PlayStation 5)

A mixture of final fantasy and devil may cry (gameplay). Combat is really awesome, immersive and innovative bringing a unique experience to players, a story and the visuals are incredible.

This is only my second Final Fantasy game so I have no special attachment to the franchise or game mechanics.

It didn’t take long to notice the quality of this game, graphically, story and gameplay but what surprised me the most was the music, it was a stand out success for me.

The game is heavy on the cutscenes which may not be for everyone.

This game has both a fidelity and performance mode, the picture quality in both were excellent and in performance mode, the frame rate was smooth for 99% of the game.

The game is live action rather than turn based which is a change for the franchise, Final Fantasy 7 remake seemed to have tested the waters here before, by having real time with turn based still present but this entry is live action all the way, personally I was happy with it but long term fans may not be.

No spoilers will be present for the story, I will say though that I had times when I was keen to continue to see what happens next. Unfortunately the main quests, what I would consider story is sometimes paused for what feel like side quests / busy work in the main campaign, which I would have preferred to be kept seperate. The game has side quests, so not sure what the idea was behind this, other than to slow down the story or extend the game length.

This game includes what I would call accessibility options, rings which will automatically dodge attacks for you or use healing items when needed, I think these are great additions and allow people more choice in how you play whilst also giving others the chance to enjoy the game if they are less skilled.

The progression is farely regular so not too long for new abilities to try and keep the game fresh also the better abilities do come later in the game.

The main story can be completed in just over 30 hours, then side quests and new game plus is available for those that want to spend more time in this world.

Finally bugs, I didn’t encounter any bugs, no crashes, no performance issues or other concerns. This was a well polished and finished game, I wish all games were released in this state.

A final verdict would be 4.5 out 5 for me.

I first began my history with the Final Fantasy series in 1991 with Final Fantasy IV (or II as it was known in the west). In the 32 years since I’ve watch the series grow and change in ways I never expected, but sadly, I’ve seen this series fall apart over the last twenty years or so. XII’s characters felt dull, XIII felt restrictive, I enjoyed A Realm Reborn, Shadowbringers and Endwalker but found the rest of XIV’s story to be incredibly bland, and XV always left me wondering what could have been. XVI was the series last chance for me, and I had low expectations going into it. After completing the game three times I can say that thankfully, I was wrong.

On the M rating – The GoT comparisons that plagued the games advertising are thankfully limited to the aesthetic alone. Yes, there are myriad uses of “F bombs” scattered throughout the game, however it’s not really used any more than the average person tends to use it in day-to-day life and generally only used in appropriate situations. The bad language thankfully never goes beyond that. In terms of nudity and sex scenes, there is no full frontal nudity in the game and no sexual acts are performed on screen at any time. In terms of violence, there’s a fair bit but again it’s no GoT. I remember games from the PS2 era that were as violent as this and they were T rated.

On combat – The Devil May Cry comparisons are again unfounded. I’ve been playing the Devil May Cry series since its first outing on the ps2, and I can say beyond any doubt that the similarities between the two begin and end with spell animations and effects. You perform regular physical and magical attacks that deal minimal damage the the enemies health (with the exception of mobs) and then use your bigger attacks to deal more significant damage. These bigger attacks are all on timers to ensure that they can’t be spammed. If anything, the combat is more similar to FFVII: Remakes without Tactical Mode; the only real difference is that basic attacks don’t generate ATB. The stagger mechanic is back, and one of the more tactical elements of the game revolves around learning the difference between which attacks are more effective at generating stagger, which are best at dealing out raw damage, and utilizing those attacks in a way that gets the most out of them. The only downside is that you can’t take direct control of your party members. However, the fact that most of them make use of unique spells and ability animations that no other characters in the game has makes me think that this will change in the the near future. I also have to acknowledge that once you have a good grasp on what all your skills do and how to use them effectively, the game does feel very easy. The games harder difficulty – dubbed ‘Final Fantasy’ mode – does offer a heightened challenge. Enemy levels scale to yours, regular enemy packs are remixed in such a way that you’ll find tougher enemies in earlier places and bosses will deal more damage, but the fact that this mode is exclusive to new games ended up leaving me wanting more, purely owing to the fact that some of your late game skills trivialize everything. Personally, I’d like to see a version of this difficulty in which you can’t carry over your Eikons, and boss mechanics are changed or mixed together like in FFVII: Remake. There is a lot of depth to the combat owing to the fact that every Eikon you use drastically alters your style of play, however, I personally would have preferred a party system.

Boss battles – The best I have ever seen in a video game. In the latter half of the game most bosses feature four phases. This can seem like a lot, but each phase should roughly only take five minutes for first timers and less for more competent players. These Eikon fights feature all the spectacle and more of XV’s summon fights, but with much more involved gameplay.

Narrative – The games main story shows me that SE learned a massive lesson from XV. The narrative is incredibly well fleshed out and leaves very little to the imagination. The only exception to this is one small thing that is mentioned in the later stages of the game but is never explored. Personally, I think this has been intentionally left out so that SE can create DLC if fans want it. Luckily, it has no major impact on the games story and does not leave it feeling incomplete by any means; for example, it’s not like Gladio saying “Got some business of my own to deal with…” Otherwise, this is a classic Final Fantasy story that includes not only high fantasy but some fantastic science fictions elements as well. There are some more sensitive topics touched upon in the narrative such as the topic of slavery, however this is done in an exceptionally respectful way; never glorifying or trivialising the issue. There are some who do seem to have a problem is this, however it is mostly rooted in bigotry because apparently people of a certain skin colour cannot be depicted in certain situations. Overall, this is a much more mature narrative that we’re used to, but it still manages to retain many classic Final Fantasy elements and JRPG tropes.

Characters – The game features a cast of five main characters who will act as your main party; Clive, Jill, Cid, Torgal, and one other whose name I’ll leave out to avoid spoilers. When I first saw these characters and heard that the protagonist was named ‘Clive’ I felt incredibly disappointed as I felt as though this was going to be XII’s cast all over again. Instead, I spent 40 hours with probably the best FF cast of all time. As a primary protagonist, Clive is exceptional. Some of the more weeby fans in the FF community will be (understandibly) upset by the lack of spikey hair and giant sword, but instead we get a character who is incredibly well grounded and relatable. The emotions Clive shows along his journey and the way he develops as a character over the course of twenty-plus years is something that any well adjusted adult would be able to relate to, and this is accentuated by one of the finest voiceover performances I have ever heard. Jill is much the same as Clive, and the on screen chemistry is magical between them. They leave you feelings as though both of them are the main character of this story rather than just Clive, which is such a welcome change when you look at how female characters have been in every instalment since X; Yuna was a ditz (albeit a loveable one) Ashe was one dimensional and dull, Lightning was one dimensional and dull, Y’shtola was one dimensional and dull, Lunafreya was….you see the pattern here? The only character I can really compare Jill to in terms of depth is General Celes from VI. Both characters share their doubts, hopes and dreams with each other and neither Jill nor Clive would have gotten very far without each other. This is much more of a realistic relationship between characters, and a welcome change from anime characters uhmming and ahhing their way through every conversation like Tidus and Yuna (even though I loved those characters). And now we come to Cid, who feels like a strange cross between Balthier and Auron. There’s not much that I can say other than this version of Cid is quite easily the best we have seen. Loveable, cocky and well written, Cid feels like an incredibly real character, and again this is only amplified by some fantastic voice work and exceptionally well written dialogue. And of course, there’s Torgal; yes, you can pet him. All of these characters are back up by an utterly superb supporting cast. Every character has depth, a backstory and their own arc. I was be very surprised if any future instalment in the series manages to create characters like this again. Finally, there’s the games primary antagonist. I would not consider him the series greatest villain, but I’m so pleased to see that he does not come across as a Saturday morning cartoon villain like Exdeath or Kefka, and nor is he carries by a sob story like Emet-Selch or Ardyn. He invokes a genuine sense of fear whenever he is on screen and his enigmatic nature leaves you guessing about the true nature of his plot right up until the last second.

Area design – The field zones are beautifully designed and a sight to behold. However, they are held back by lack of things such as optional dungeons and super bosses. In terms of size they’re quite large, but this is rendered moot by the fact that the game has auto sprint and it cannot be turned off, so you can’t really take your time to enjoy the areas. However, the lack of mini-map does push you into exploring the zones on your own initiative; something that I find very welcome.

Performance – My personal preference is 60FPS during gameplay and 30FPS during cutscenes. The game does aim for this but sadly falls a little short of the mark. There are one or two cutscenes that run a little shy of 30, however given what is happening in those scenes it’s difficult to be too critical of it. During combat that game runs at a consistent 60, even during the Eikon battles, however the frames can drop a lot during exploration in the field zones and in towns. During the games “stages” it runs consistently well. In terms of bugs/glitches, I’ve not encountered a single one in any of my playthroughs. I’ve heard that there is an issue in which PS5’s are over heating during certain boss battles, however as I’m playing on performance mode I’ve not seen this issue at any point; in fact, I’ve not even heard my PS5’s fan while playing the game.

Music – Varied, memorable and emotive. 10/10.

On the ethnic diversity controversy – During the media interviews for XVI, Naoki Yoshida stated “There will be some diversity, but it won’t be as diverse as say, for example, modern day Earth”. Certain “journalistic” outposts decided to run with this and claimed that there would be no ethnic minorities represented in the game and some are continuing push this to this day. I cannot stress enough that this is a blatant lie from these outlets. Without any spoilers, around the halfway point of the game you will visit a nation in which around 75% of it’s population are of an ethnic minority. This is not just limited to skin colour, but also facial features and cultural dress. There have also been claims of the game mistreating its female cast and not allowing them to be powerful. Over the course of your journey, you will help out the leaders of 4 towns. These people are considered to be the towns “most wealthy and influential individuals”. Two of them are female, and one of them is of an ethnic minority. There is also a LOT more, but I cannot go into this without giving major story spoilers, so I will just say that there is plenty of diversity in this game and it is done in a way that is not condescending, preachy, or woke.

General negatives – The crafting system feels pointless. You can pick up a new weapon and one cutscene later a better one will be available and the game automatically gives you everything you need in order to create the weapons. The only time you really need to work for it is for the games endgame weapons. The side quests offer barely anything in the way of variation and are thrown at you in such abundance that they can really hinder the pacing of the story. They do offer some really good lore and do give a lot of NPC’s some fantastic depth, but they mostly feel like a hindrance. The only ones I’d recommend are any that have a plus symbol marker as they provide helpful rewards, and three endgame quests entitled ‘Where There’s a Will’, More Than Words’ and ‘Priceless’.

Lastly, is this a ‘Final Fantasy’? – It depends on what you value in a Final Fantasy title. Upon release many claimed that VII wasn’t a true FF as it ditched the fantasy aspects, that VIII wasn’t one as it was just a “glorified teen romance novel”, that IX wasn’t one a it was “too cartoony and childish”, that X wasn’t one is it ditched the traditional levelling system, that XI wasn’t one as it was an MMO, that XII wasn’t one as it ditched random encounters, that XIII wasn’t one as it was just a hallway, that XIV wasn’t one because it was another MMO, that XV wasn’t one because you had a car and it was an action game, and now that XVI isn’t one because it’s also an action game and you can’t control your party members. Ultimately it depends on what you value; for me, that’s a world and narrative that mixes fantasy and science fiction and provides meaningful and emotive interactions between characters in a way that makes you feel as though the unique world your experiencing is actually real. Is it Final Fantasy? To me, 100%.

Last piece of advice for anyone thinking of picking up the game – Ignore the reviews (including mine if you so choose). The 10/10 reviews generally come from a place of people already deciding that the game was great before it was even out purely because of the team making it, and the more negative reviews tend to come from a place of people already deciding that the game was bad before it was even out mostly because of ‘ists’ and ‘isms’, none of which were true. (There’s a reason that most negative reviews come across as incredibly pretentious and condescending) The objective truth lies somewhere in the middle – that it is a flawed but ultimately fantastic game worthy of the Final Fantasy title. Not quite on the level of IX or VI, but leagues beyond the likes of VII, XII or even X. If you think this game might be for you, give it a shot and form your own opinion. If it doesn’t look like if’s for you, then that’s a shame, but give it a miss. If you’ve already decided that you don’t WANT it to be for you in classic FF fan fashion, then what are you even doing here?

Final score – 8.5/10.

…I’m loving this so far.

I’m a big fan of FFX, as I love turn-based battle systems. This is a huge departure, more reminiscent or Souls-like games in terms of combat, but it’s still a really fun system.

The story is excellent. You can even pause mid-cutscene to catch up on the relevant lore to that scene, in case you’re a bit lost (which, let’s face it, is easy in a JRPG).

Don’t be put off because this is so different to the classic FF games – it’s well worth trying something new for.