Well, here we are again. Nearly 40 years later, we are, surprisingly, only at number sixteen. Of course, there have been spin-offs, remakes, and remasters all strewn throughout the timeline. The games have gotten bigger, more epic, and more cinematic, and they have started to abandon the traditional JRPG formula they helped create. This is probably the most action-oriented mainstay game to date, with cinematic quick-time events and mega boss fights.
First and foremost, this is not an open-world game like Final Fantasy XV was. There are large open areas, but this is a very linear-driven game. The main focus is on the main quests, and then there are side quests that we will talk about later. The game slowly introduces the combat system and the way the mechanics work over the course of the first fourth of the game. My favorite part, and the biggest draw to this game, is the sprawling story that is heavily inspired by Game of Thrones. There are various kingdoms at war with each other over the mothercrystals that supply magic to the people. These kingdoms are governed by interesting characters, and there is even in-house fighting and scrapping, just like in Game of Thrones. Plenty of betrayal, deceit, and various ways of hurting another person Each kingdom has an Eikon (or Aeon), and these are the famous ones we all know, such as Ifrit, Bahamut, Phoenix, and Shiva. Each Eikon is used during battles and war, but there's a blight coming that's sweeping the land, and the kingdoms are warring over land that hasn't been plagued. I don't want to go into anymore detail as it might spoil the story, but there is a useful Time Lore feature that can be used during cut scenes to read about what is going on. Despite how deep the story is, it's not confusing or hard to follow at all thanks to this Time Lore feature.
There isn't much to explore in this game. You can run around the open fields, collecting sparkling orbs that contain healing items or stuff used to forge equipment. There are occasional treasure chests with pendants and other items, but looting and forging take a backseat in this game. Enemies are found on the field and can be engaged in real time. This makes the game feel faster-paced and reduces the need to slog through hours of turn-based grinding. In towns, you can take on sidequests that are green marks and can fast travel to any area that's been unlocked or a travel crystal has been discovered. Later on in the game (probably way too late), you can unlock a Chocobo to ride, as some areas can be pretty vast and you will visit many multiple times. There are a few dozen areas to explore, but sadly, there's nothing but pretty sights in most of them. There is no substance to the exploration. You mainly just use the enemies to grind a bit until you outpace the enemies, and then the area is literally useless to you. Thankfully, many of these areas are never visited again after the first time, unless a side-quest takes you there.
Combat is obviously one of the biggest draws to the game, but it's more flash than substance. There is only a single melee attack button, a magick button, and a dodge button. The game focuses a lot on dodging and parrying, as enemies and bosses are fast-paced and can spam insanely powerful moves. You have to master being defensive, or you will die a lot in this game. Sadly, most of the combat is focused on using your abilities and quelling cooldowns. Each Eikon you unlock gives you abilities. Shiva gives you ice abilities, Titan, Earth, and so on. You gain ability points and can unlock new abilities and upgrade some through a skill tree, but I felt this was mostly useless. By the end of the game, you have already unlocked most of them; however, abilities need to be switched out according to the enemy types. You have offensive and defensive abilities. There is also a single fully upgraded mega ability per Eikon, and these are a must-have during the final chapters. They take a long time to cool down, but they inflict mega damage and can really give you an edge in battle. I sadly hated that I only used my standard melee attack when abilities were cooling down, and then there is the rage meter, which is also used in between. It's similar to an MMO, where you just queue up attacks based on damage and availability. There's almost no skill involved outside of defense.
This makes combat boring after so long. Sure, it looks cool, and there are a lot of well-done animations and effects, but when you get to the large Eikon battles, they just look cool. Some even take place in space on a cosmic level, but those are even simpler with just basic melee combos and the occasional ability. If the game didn't look as slick as it does, the combat would be mostly inexcusable for how simplistic and formulaic it is. I never quite hated it, as you do have to stay on your toes, but I never really felt powerful enough, no matter how leveled up I was. I wish I could have devastating combos and not have to rely so heavily on my abilities or rage meter. Bosses' health meters will slowly chip away and can seem to take forever to defeat. Thankfully, the game is forgiving and will start you over at checkpoints with recovered health items. At least on easier and normal difficulties.
You can buy new gear, but it's very simple and rudimentary. You get a sword, a bracer, and a third piece of armor, and that's it. You can use the forge to enhance them with materials or just buy new ones. You end up with so much Gil because there's nothing worth buying. The only expensive items are things like songs for the jukebox at your hideaway. That's it. You also don't get to play as any other characters, so you're just stuck with Clive. There isn't a full party to outfit here. I always had the best gear because there wasn't anything else to focus on. It almost seems pointless.
There's nothing else to do outside of all of that, except maybe bounty hunts. These are just optional mini-bosses. Mini-bosses are enemies with yellow stagger bars that take much longer to defeat. They pop up often and can bog down the flow of the game. They also repeat very frequently and damage sponges. I'm not a fan of these mini-bosses. However, the rewards for doing these bounty hunts and side quests are points you can use to get material packages, which is pointless as you end up with plenty of Gil to buy whatever you want. The sidequests themselves are boring fetch quests that you would see in an MMO. Hunt these enemies, talk to this person, deliver this item, etc. I gave up about two-thirds through the game on these.
The game does look absolutely fantastic. Every area is oozing with color, atmosphere, and excellent effects. The characters look good, and the English voice acting is top-notch for once. We are a long way from Tidus' infamous cringy laugh from Final Fantasy X. I really enjoyed the story and the darker tone of this game. It's a gory, brutal, and harsh world that's a stark contrast from other light-hearted JRPGs from Square Enix with the typical whining, spiky blonde-haired boy saves the world scenario. It was a breath of fresh air, and I wish the gameplay and exploration didn't take a back seat. This is more of an action game than an RPG.
First and foremost, this is not an open-world game like Final Fantasy XV was. There are large open areas, but this is a very linear-driven game. The main focus is on the main quests, and then there are side quests that we will talk about later. The game slowly introduces the combat system and the way the mechanics work over the course of the first fourth of the game. My favorite part, and the biggest draw to this game, is the sprawling story that is heavily inspired by Game of Thrones. There are various kingdoms at war with each other over the mothercrystals that supply magic to the people. These kingdoms are governed by interesting characters, and there is even in-house fighting and scrapping, just like in Game of Thrones. Plenty of betrayal, deceit, and various ways of hurting another person Each kingdom has an Eikon (or Aeon), and these are the famous ones we all know, such as Ifrit, Bahamut, Phoenix, and Shiva. Each Eikon is used during battles and war, but there's a blight coming that's sweeping the land, and the kingdoms are warring over land that hasn't been plagued. I don't want to go into anymore detail as it might spoil the story, but there is a useful Time Lore feature that can be used during cut scenes to read about what is going on. Despite how deep the story is, it's not confusing or hard to follow at all thanks to this Time Lore feature.
There isn't much to explore in this game. You can run around the open fields, collecting sparkling orbs that contain healing items or stuff used to forge equipment. There are occasional treasure chests with pendants and other items, but looting and forging take a backseat in this game. Enemies are found on the field and can be engaged in real time. This makes the game feel faster-paced and reduces the need to slog through hours of turn-based grinding. In towns, you can take on sidequests that are green marks and can fast travel to any area that's been unlocked or a travel crystal has been discovered. Later on in the game (probably way too late), you can unlock a Chocobo to ride, as some areas can be pretty vast and you will visit many multiple times. There are a few dozen areas to explore, but sadly, there's nothing but pretty sights in most of them. There is no substance to the exploration. You mainly just use the enemies to grind a bit until you outpace the enemies, and then the area is literally useless to you. Thankfully, many of these areas are never visited again after the first time, unless a side-quest takes you there.
Combat is obviously one of the biggest draws to the game, but it's more flash than substance. There is only a single melee attack button, a magick button, and a dodge button. The game focuses a lot on dodging and parrying, as enemies and bosses are fast-paced and can spam insanely powerful moves. You have to master being defensive, or you will die a lot in this game. Sadly, most of the combat is focused on using your abilities and quelling cooldowns. Each Eikon you unlock gives you abilities. Shiva gives you ice abilities, Titan, Earth, and so on. You gain ability points and can unlock new abilities and upgrade some through a skill tree, but I felt this was mostly useless. By the end of the game, you have already unlocked most of them; however, abilities need to be switched out according to the enemy types. You have offensive and defensive abilities. There is also a single fully upgraded mega ability per Eikon, and these are a must-have during the final chapters. They take a long time to cool down, but they inflict mega damage and can really give you an edge in battle. I sadly hated that I only used my standard melee attack when abilities were cooling down, and then there is the rage meter, which is also used in between. It's similar to an MMO, where you just queue up attacks based on damage and availability. There's almost no skill involved outside of defense.
This makes combat boring after so long. Sure, it looks cool, and there are a lot of well-done animations and effects, but when you get to the large Eikon battles, they just look cool. Some even take place in space on a cosmic level, but those are even simpler with just basic melee combos and the occasional ability. If the game didn't look as slick as it does, the combat would be mostly inexcusable for how simplistic and formulaic it is. I never quite hated it, as you do have to stay on your toes, but I never really felt powerful enough, no matter how leveled up I was. I wish I could have devastating combos and not have to rely so heavily on my abilities or rage meter. Bosses' health meters will slowly chip away and can seem to take forever to defeat. Thankfully, the game is forgiving and will start you over at checkpoints with recovered health items. At least on easier and normal difficulties.
You can buy new gear, but it's very simple and rudimentary. You get a sword, a bracer, and a third piece of armor, and that's it. You can use the forge to enhance them with materials or just buy new ones. You end up with so much Gil because there's nothing worth buying. The only expensive items are things like songs for the jukebox at your hideaway. That's it. You also don't get to play as any other characters, so you're just stuck with Clive. There isn't a full party to outfit here. I always had the best gear because there wasn't anything else to focus on. It almost seems pointless.
There's nothing else to do outside of all of that, except maybe bounty hunts. These are just optional mini-bosses. Mini-bosses are enemies with yellow stagger bars that take much longer to defeat. They pop up often and can bog down the flow of the game. They also repeat very frequently and damage sponges. I'm not a fan of these mini-bosses. However, the rewards for doing these bounty hunts and side quests are points you can use to get material packages, which is pointless as you end up with plenty of Gil to buy whatever you want. The sidequests themselves are boring fetch quests that you would see in an MMO. Hunt these enemies, talk to this person, deliver this item, etc. I gave up about two-thirds through the game on these.
The game does look absolutely fantastic. Every area is oozing with color, atmosphere, and excellent effects. The characters look good, and the English voice acting is top-notch for once. We are a long way from Tidus' infamous cringy laugh from Final Fantasy X. I really enjoyed the story and the darker tone of this game. It's a gory, brutal, and harsh world that's a stark contrast from other light-hearted JRPGs from Square Enix with the typical whining, spiky blonde-haired boy saves the world scenario. It was a breath of fresh air, and I wish the gameplay and exploration didn't take a back seat. This is more of an action game than an RPG.