I want to start off by saying no, this game is not perfect, I don't think any game is, I do wish side quests offered more and that you could play as other party members (albeit I understand why you can't) but with that aside. FFXVI has managed to do something I've wanted from a RPG for so long, I felt so immersed in this world, in this experience. From the beautifully crafted story, immaculate worldbuilding, phenomenal gameplay and combat, and dare I say the best boss battles I have ever witnessed in a video game, this game does it all. There wasn't a moment in this game where I wasn't enthralled by the sheer spectacle this game put me through. The cast and their dynamics were beautiful, especially between the two brothers, the world building was so thick yet so easily accessible, I felt like I could get lost just reading about Valisthea and it's history, and god man, when this game peaked it peaked. Each boss battle had me exhilarated and on the edge of my seat, and the soundtrack as well was just gorgeous, captured exactly how the scene felt every time. And the flexibility of the gameplay allows for even the longest battles to never get dull. I am trying to be vague so I won't go into spoiler territory, but I wish I could just list ever single time Clive's Journey took my breath away. Please play this game, you will not regret it.

I think the best way I could describe Final Fantasy XVI is that it’s one of the most “it’s so over -> we’re so back -> (repeat)” games ever

My favourite part of XVI was the combat, which didn’t feel like it got old even once for me. It was one of those types of gameplay that got better as you got further, especially with the amount of Eikons you get to unlock and chain together (Titan my beloved). I liked the story and Clive is easily one of my favourite protagonists in the franchise, I wasn’t too sure how I’d feel about him at first but he ended up growing on me a ton. And of course the boss fights were just perfect, with my favourites being Odin, Titan and Bahamut. There wasn’t a single one that didn’t have me at least slightly locked in, whether it was in Clive’s regular form or as Ifrit

With all that said though… I do kinda wish I ended up liking this game more? Don’t get me wrong I did really like it, but my god the lows of this game were enough to get in the way. I don’t think I need to say much about the pacing and amount of fetch quests this game throws at you out of nowhere since many people have said the same thing about them (for good reasons too). The part after the Titan battle especially because god that felt like it took foooorever to get through. I did enjoy the final parts but at that point, it did feel like it overstayed its welcome and I was more than ready for the game to be finished during the last few chapters

Despite all of that though, I enjoyed my time with XVI and felt that the ending was a satisfying one for me. I do wish I could call it one of my favourite Final Fantasy games, because it easily has so many parts that would make me think that if it wasn’t for the issues I had. If I spent a full £70 on this back when it first released, I would’ve been way more conflicted about it, so I’m more than glad that I waited. But with all that said, XVI was one that I liked and can definitely see why it was GOTY for many people

Completed FF XVI.

After looking at FF 14, I consider XVI to be the type that learns from the mistakes of its predecessors (FF 13, FF 15), incorporating what works in the current gaming industry while focusing on aspects that core fans desire, elevating them to over-the-top levels as goals, rather than just adding too much without delivering. Ultimately, when discussing core gameplay, character moments, lore, spectacle, and music, FF XVI stands out as one of the best in the series.

+ The Eikon fights are mind-blowing spectacles. The grandeur they present makes FF XVI the pinnacle of the entire FF series in this aspect. I'd even go as far as to say that experiencing this game on PS5 is a must for the Eikon scenes alone.

+ The music is an eargasmic experience. I've been listening to FF 14's OST daily, and in FF XVI, Soken has truly taken it to the next level. If the album were to be released, I'd definitely buy it.

+ The action is enjoyable, solid, and satisfying. The skill rotation is relatively easy, the parrying feels smooth, and staggering combos can deal hundreds of thousands of damage. As someone who isn't a fan of the action genre, I find the gameplay quite solid. The accessories also greatly enhance the game's accessibility, even though the game itself is quite manageable without them.

+ I like the characters, especially Clive, whose voice acting deserves commendation. Jill, Cid, Mid, and even the NPCs are all well-written.

+ The character moments are well-executed. They all deliver exceptionally well. The ending is tear-jerking, and I'm quite satisfied with the impact that Clive's actions have shown after the credits.

+ Torgal, the good boy.

= I honestly don't mind some characters being underexplored, but I hope there will be DLCs addressing the relationships between Cid, Barnabas, and Benedikta.

- I still feel that FFT and Tactics Ogre are the true mature RPGs from SE (outside of the aspects of sex and blood). The political intrigue in FF XVI feels shallow and gimmicky, lacking dynamism.

- The hate crime bearer isn't relatable, and its message regarding slavery seems to miss the point. The game also mishandles this theme and how it's used as a narrative motivator. I have my own thoughts on this matter.

- The story's motivations feel somewhat messy and lacking depth, with some reveals discarding interesting aspects of the story's motivations.

- The sidequests... 😪 but you miss out on a lot if you don't follow them, especially towards the end. I even had to turn off my PS when I was hyped to face the final boss, just to complete them.

- Many elements feel like they're just ticking the checkboxes of modern RPGs, such as side quests, item shops, world areas, crafting, equipment, evolving hideouts, etc., which I believe have a lot of potential but aren't taken seriously.

Overall, I consider FF XVI to be one of the best FF games I've ever played, though my list may be unique (currently, my top four are FFT, FF XIV, FFXVI, and FFXII, with the development teams being related to one another). In my opinion, this game is a must-play if you own a PS5; it's a spectacle that I haven't experienced since Shadow of the Colossus and God of War 3.

My rating: 4/5.

FF16’s overall story takes a more mature turn in comparison to the other mainline Final Fantasy games. Clive, the main protagonist, is born of royalty but is shunned by his mother for not being a Dominant–a person who inherits an immense amount of magical powers, enough to turn into fairytale like creatures, such as, Dragons or Giant beasts Clive is referred to as a bearer–someone who can use magic Since Bearers aren’t gifted like Dominants, they are essentially seen as less. Many times in the stories bearers are used as “fuel” until they meet their demise due to constant hard labor. Overusing magic can make the user very sick, which can often lead to their demise if they work without resting. Reoccuring themes are guiltiness, revenge, love, and war. While the cut scenes, plot, and story overall is great, something feels off about how the story is told. Many times there will be an epic fight, followed by a beautifully crafted cutscene only for it to stop, with dull drawn out dialogue and fetch quests. While the sidequests can be ignored, it doesn’t help that the story paddens out with dialogue that overstays its welcome. I find myself wanting to put the game down when there aren’t any cinematics or boss fights

I’ve seen many complaints about Clive not having a party. While I can understand the frustration of not being able to customize party members, or control them fully, FF16 does have a party system. I admit the party system is more barebones than ever, but Clive does have people who he fights with. In fact most of Clive’s battles include at least one party member or more. Most of the time Torgal is the party member, but depending on where you are in the story there is typically another companion, such as: Jill and Cid. Torgal has commands while the other party members move on their own. This party system sucks but at least Clive isn’t all alone. I was really hoping that it would be similar to FF15’s party system and customization, but oh well.

Lastly the Eikon fights are peak. I don’t have to say much, please play the game! The cut scenes, story, and characters are incredible! I highly recommend playing if story driven games are your cup of tea! This game won’t disappoint as long as you keep an open mind, and take small breaks!

Could’ve added a few more rpg elements as well as removed a few events that actually kills the pacing of the story.

Other than that this was a cool FF experience. Not a perfect one at all, but I had fun with it and that’s all that matters. It had some very high peaks & some deep lows, and yet there were more of the former than the latter.

Games are a lot more interesting when you don’t expect masterpiece all the time…

Final Fantasy XVI is my first Final Fantasy game (at least the first one I played all the way through) and though I am aware it's not really emblematic of what the rest of the series is like, it was still a damn good game and one that might serve as my gateway into the series' countless other games.

The setting and deep-rooted themes of Final Fantasy XVI are a big standout here, and something that I don't think I could get far in this review without first bringing up. The twin continents of Valisthea are afflicted by a plague and everyone in the land is worse off for it. Though the plague doesn't affect people directly, instead opting to sap up all the life from the land it touches and making it unhabitable, it's through the terror that this ever-spreading plague causes that the worst sides of man are brought out. The world of FFXVI is one where nations' clashing ideals are brought to the forefront as they fight to gain more land unaffected by the blight, and where oppression and slavery are unfortunately commonplace. They're mature and heavy themes for sure and the game handles them pretty damn well, paired with some interesting worldbuilding and a medieval-fantasy setting (for once in the series' recent history) and this game became one that I couldn't wait to keep playing so that I could just see more of what it had to offer.

The story of Final Fantasy XVI is the story of Clive Rosfield, a man who to say has had a hard life would be an understatement. Having lost his father and his younger brother, whom he was sworn to protect, as a child and then unbeknownst to him sold into slavery to the imperial army by his own mother, we pick up with Clive as a broken man just trying to survive and on a quest for revenge on his brother's killer. It's only when he learns that he was the one who killed his brother (albeit in the form of a large fiery beast that he had no control over) that he sets out on a journey to right the wrongs of the world, to stop the spread of the plague, to free those who like him have been oppressed because of their abilities, and to discover what the purpose of his life is now after living only for revenge for most of his life. Thematically, the decision to focus on Clive alone as the main character, even going so far as to have him be the only character you take control of in the game in a series that is known for it's diversity of party memebers in gameplay, is a really strong one. Part of Clive's personal struggles is that of not knowing and not being able to rely on others and feeling the need to take problems into his own hands and bare the burden of many things by himself, even when it harms him to do so. Throughout the story however he makes countless friends and allies and learns to rely on their help which is just a really touching transformation and gives him a great sense of personal stakes to want to see the world saved. If I had one main problem with the story however it would be it's main villain. While there are several minor villans that each play their parts in certain acts of the story, the main villain, Ultima, kind of falls flat in my opinion. He is a very loosely defined threat, and one that despite easily having the power to end things at any point, for some reasons chooses to wait until the very end of the story to step in. His plan and motives are unclear and uninteresting and admittedly he just talks way too much, which when it all sounds like fantasy jargon, just doesn't make any scene with him enjoyable or interesting. It's because of this that the whole final few sections of the game's story were a slog to get through, and though the game does have a really good ending, any part that Ultima is in is is a part that I find myself unable to enjoy.

Finally, I want to talk about perhaps the most important aspect of the game, it's gameplay. The base gameplay of FFXVI involves exploring vast and well-crafted areas and getting into fast-paced action RPG battles. The battles are really enjoyable giving you a wide base moveset to use against swarms of monsters or human enemies as well as various magic combat abilities in the form of Eikon powers that allow for a small form of moveset customization and more powerful attacks at your disposal in battle. You obtain several new sets of Eikon powers throughout the game which was something I found really cool as it kept the gameplay fresh and engaging. Perhaps the best part of the gameplay though are the boss battles. These are really cinematic and have several phases which really test your mastery of the games combat, leading to fun and satisfying fights that are an absolute blast from start to finish. These were easily my favorite part of the gameplay and something I always looked forward to at the end of certain sections when I could tell they were coming, adding another great layer of challenge and fun onto gameplay already racked with it.

Final Fantasy XVI was a great gateway into the world of Final Fantasy for me and one packed with a deep and mature story and themes, an immensely likable and relatable protagonist, and really fun combat and boss fights that kept me playing.

Oh, and you can pet the dog :)

DISCLAIMER: This is the first game I have reviewed where an update, version 1.3.1, has come out before I beat it that added substantial QoL. Usually I don't update my games but it read like no nerfs, only buffs so I said why not? As such, some topics about early game might no longer be viable but because I was more than halfway through when the patch dropped I cannot correct those topics without another playtrhrough. It is worth bringing up because it did, in fact effect my score

As usual, I will try to not do any story spoilers but gameplay is free reign. I had worries going into this game, most due to the style of combat they decided to go with. Would fight be too long? Would the darker tone come off as "what your average 13 year old wants all media to be"? Many said to me "Trust in Yoshi P" but when you also don't care for the game that got him his standing, it isn't something I'm going to do easily.

As far as plot goes, I was slipping in and out of interest as the game went on. I had played them demo on release but I redid the intro again for easier reacclimation and reminder of purpose. The early plot I was the most engaged with and given how most jrpgs are, it was totally unexpected. The entire mid plot however, I had zero interest whatsoever and was just going through it to get through but thankfully once that was resolved the plot also became interesting again. The general pacing didn't help, and its one of those "Oh right, the mmo team made this" aspects. There are sidequests that are only not classified as such due to them having the red marker instead of green. Come come off this large climactic moment and you next course of action is running back an forth between 3 people to have them talk to you and then maybe go do a fetch quest or fight a group of fodder enemies, after of course seeing a cutscene shown via a map with pieces on it to illustrate "what has now happened". I guess they blew the budget on other things because this reeks of trying to cut down on something. We saw plenty of scenes where the main cast should have no way of knowing so why go about it this way? If I was just told "oh yeah this happened" in a blurb it would have had the same outcome. And yes, majority of the sidequests are awful but I did them all anyway and thank god that update added the quick warp back to the questgiver. I was real tired of Clive's "its chilly outside but I'm too lazy to bundle up but I gotta get the mail" jaunt of a walk in the hubs. Why didn't they allow him to dash? This is in EVERY hub, town whatever. I swear if the teleport wasn't added it would have put another 45 minutes to the total game time. I will say though, the darker nature of this game had me shocked at some actions they took. I certainly never would have expected violence of that type in a Final Fantasy game before. Also lots of Fucks were said, sometimes comically so.

The characters were, fine I guess. Honestly I didn't really have a favorite aside from Torgal. Clive seems to be very well liked and I can see why, Ben Starr did a pretty damn great performance. Cid had a very nice voice too. But Torgal, I think he's up there in terms of video game dog hierarchy. My boy was doing some sick ass combos and follow ups on enemies both in and out of cutscene. Everyone else I couldn't care less about and thats probably another large reason why I was having a hard time keeping interest in the plot. I'm probably not gonna remember most of the character's names outside of the main like 5, and one unfortunate girl who's nickname is an accurate description of interacting with her.

The music was very good. The ost had a lot of slower, soft and somber tracks which if anyone knows me are my favorite types. There was even a rendition of the main theme that is probably my number 2. I'm just a sucker for that theme, its like a cheat code to get a smile out of me in an FF game. The prelude was also invited to the game and its renditions were nice as well. The most surprising thing was even the battle music had its slower moments. I'm trading blows with a boss and suddenly the strings come in and its like something I'd hear during some high class party, not a life or death battle.

I'll be a lot more detailed going forward, because we're entering the gameplay now.

Lets start with the game's gear and general itemization. Why is it even here? This gear system is 6 items: Your weapon, belt, arm and three accessories. There is only 1 weapon type Clive has access to and that is his sword and all that matters with them is the attack and stun numbers, this goes for your belt and arm gear as well but it replace attack and stagger for defense and bonus health. Majority of the time both will increase so it doesn't matter. There was maybe two times were I had to choose between keeping my current sword on or using one that only had more attack or stagger. There is also no innate elemental affinity to the weapons themselves. Flametounge, Icebrand, Gaia Sword etc just do typeless damage. The accessories is where you're gonna get any sort of meaningful changes from however its still not much. You have your usual stat increase ones for attack, defense and HP (the rest of the stats despite being in the level up menu seem straight up pointless), your "easy mode" ones that automate certain aspects and then ones that decrease the cooldown of your eikon abilities or their damage. I played on action difficulty the whole time (basically normal) and I never saw a reason to swap from the increased exp, increased ap and auto charge magic ones once they were unlocked. I did try the eikon related ones but the changes seemed negligible on action, on final fantasy difficulty (that you need to beat the game to access) I'm sure they're more necessary. The game also has a crafting system which also begs why its even in the game. There are weapons and gear that can only be crafted and you can also reinforce you gear to make it stronger. Sounds fine so why does am I questioning it existing? Because most materials are in abundance! Unless it was a sidequest, mark or boss reward I never was lacking and could make gear the moment it appeared. Even the limited materials were only needed for the specific items so their rarity was more just to block you out of getting stronger stuff early than anything. Your consumables are also limited in terms of how many you can hold of each, you can also only access 3 types at a time that you set and they're all standard. Potion, Hi Potion, attack/defense buff potions, elixer, one time revive elixer etc. Hey though, this is probably the first final fantasy game I can say I used the standard potion during the final boss!

Exploration was barely a thing. Sure there were some more open maps but most of the time it was empty with just the scenery and a couple enemies. The chests you run into would mostly have either gil or materials, with the more important ones being in the story based mapless dungeons. Clive has access to that dash I complained about earlier but outside of the more hallway oriented parts it isn't enough. Even when you get the Chocobo, I think she's too slow. She's faster than Clive for sure but I don't know, she just didn't feel like she helped me get to where I wanted to go all that much quicker. I fast traveled any chance I could have.

Combat is the big thing in this game. "Devil May Fantasy/ Final Fantasy May Cry", its as deep ad you want to make it but even then I didn't find it any deeper than waist high. You have a handful of tools at your disposal: Perfect dodging, parrying, ability and dodge canceling, timed magic burst, eikon switching, ariel rave air combos, however you only have one singular 4 hit combo as you main and I think is the largest issue. There should have been more routes, maybe delayed style to vary it up a bit because no, the eikon abilities do no do enough since they are limited as well. You can set up to 3 eikons in your loadout, and each has 2 slots you can put a skill in along with each one having a unique mechanic like a dash, charge or block on the other button since X is relegated to jump. This limits them greatly, each eikon has 4 moves not counting the unique one and the skills can only be changed outside of battle. Upgrading costs AP with some of them being expensive to master with the point of mastering being that skills can be used on other eikon sets. Once I got my full moveset situated, I build my loadout and didn't bother with tinkering for the remaining 1/3 of the game. Titan's was probably my favorite because I am a simple man and anything that allows me to punch is my go to. Before I unlocked it I was honestly not into the combat, just going through the motions hoping it would eventually become fun. Flurry of Punches was just so satisfying and the fact it could be used to counter not just melee but also magic made it even sweeter. The eikon abilities are the closest thing you will have to a different weapon type in the game. Magic is just aesthetic, as it changes with each eikon equipped but otherwise did no difference in damage and enemies didn't seem to have any weaknesses.

Credit where its due, the normal fights never dragged on which was one of my largest fears going in. I say normal fights because the stagger rears its ugly head here and if any of you read my FF7 Remake review then you know how I feel about their last attempt at it. I can say here while the general feeling of "it feels more like a nerf and then allowed to do full damage", aside for a SINGLE fight it never once reset after a cutscene. The bosses did drag at times, but I expect a boss to have more health so I'm not too annoyed about it. Some of those fights were pretty damn great anyway. The sidequests are the weakness of the devs but the cinematic aspect of the bossfights are their strengths. One fight its a tense one on one sword, perfect dodge and parry fest and the other is an Asura's Wrath level event. I do think the Eikon fights could have used more depth, the trickle of moves made the first few some of the slowest fights in the game but in terms of pulling them out to fight they showed a surprising amount of restraint. The setpieces of these eikon fights were lovely to see for the first time and the sense of scale was preserved no matter what they did. I do think that these would be the worst part of replay though, due to just how cinematic they can be. I hope you like quicktimes, especially the mashing kind. Also I don't know where to put this but an enemy had an attack called "Spirits Within" and I find that funny.

Saying that this game was a twice as long but half as fun Devil May Cry is false, there is much more to the game than that and same goes for the "Final Fantasy of Thrones" or "Game of Final Fantasy" or whatever that joke name was. However in trying to make sure the usual rpg fan can get in, the combat is shallower than what a character action stlye enjoyer would want so as a fan of both it left me doubly displeased. The story had more ups and down than a merry go round horse in terms of its pacing, it could have used some fat trimming. Turning such a longstanding plot tradition on its head could just be for the sake of it or those who try to find meaning in every sentence could see it as a direct statement on some reliance of the past and needing to break it. Despite that I will still never agree with Final Fantasy ditching turn based/atb and going full on combo MAD, but I wouldn't be opposed to coming back to FF17 if they allow the combat to pull from more of the movesets. I don't know if the darker tone is going to be the standard going forward, but maybe don't realy on people yelling FUCK so much, eh? FF16 tried dto do something new, its trying to get its feet planted on the ground again, which some would argue its been doing since FFX, but the groundwork is here. Whenever I get around to Rebirth, its combat is gonna have a hard time comparing and this is exactly why I went through FF7R before this. I wonder if those Torgal plushies are still on sale?

I don't get what other people are seeing here! I've played around 15-20 hours of this, and I just can't get into it. I think the story may get more interesting later on, and I do really like the characters, but the gameplay just doesn't hit for me. Every side quest feels like an MMO "go find this for me," and even the bombastic main quest moments feel like they completely take away any player agency during pivotal story moments. Let me play as the big summons! Don't show it to me like I am and just give me button prompts! I'll fully admit I might be missing something here, but after trying to get into it for so long, I just really don't want to keep playing.

Se nota que han preferido reducir el alcance del juego para no encontrarse con los mismos problemas que en FFXV. Mientras aquel juego tenia un alcance gigantesco y al final salió profundamente recortado, en este han preferido centrarse en lo básico y hacerlo completo. ¿El problema? Para mi gusto se ha quedado demasiado básico en mecánicas. El juego se centra en ser un hack n slash puro, pero uno bastante simplón. Quiere ser un Devil May Cry, pero ni se acerca a la profundidad de la saga. Y al mismo tiempo quiere mantener elementos de exploración y RPG pero son completamente superfluos en un género de este estilo. No sirve de nada explorar un escenario enorme para encontrar una poción (que se recuperan solas al morir) o 3 giles. Son mecánicas que no tienen sinergías entre ellas.

Sin embargo el juego por fin (después de muchas entregas) sí tiene una historia y un mundo interesantes y bien construidos. Las escenas con los Eikons son espectaculares pero, otra vez, mecánicamente se quedan a un nivel bajísimo. Además se notan algunos retazos de posibles ideas que se quedaron por el camino en el desarrollo, como un posible equipo de héroes como en los FF clásicos. Tenemos a Cid, a Jill, a Dion, a Joshua. Suficientes personajes que te acompañan durante el juego con diferentes poderes que podrían haber dado variedad y un lado estratégico a los combates. Incluso otros personajes sin poderes de Eikons como Gav o Mid podrían haber tenido sus mecánicas propias en los combates.

En su lugar tenemos al perrete Torgal como compañero. A todas luces un añadido a última hora que no aporta nada a pesar de poder darle órdenes en combate. Y mientras, Jill, un personaje que está presentado como alguien relevante en el juego, está relegada a ser el love interest con cero química con el protagonista, que se pasa la mayor parte del juego acompañándote de fondo sin decir nada.

A pesar de todo esto es una entrega sólida, en cuanto a que lo que se propone lo hace bien. Se siente un Final Fantasy aunque el género sea tan diferente. Es una pena no poder dejar de ver el potencial de muchos aspectos del juego y las oportunidades perdidas. Quizás después de los problemas que dio el desarrollo del XV la mejor opción era no apuntar demasiado alto.