I feel like no matter what Final Fantasy does now it'll always be divisive or off putting to some part of the fanbase, the series has been going on so long and been through so many phases that I'd argue it's almost impossible to keep everyone happy. While I would like to see a turn-based Final Fantasy game again I think that's very unlikely for the main series, I'm fine with a more action orientated approach and Final Fantasy XVI has a great combat system that remains fun throughout the whole game I just think it needs a bit extra depth to it. I think if they kept the combat as it is but added more of an RPG focus on your skill tree, upgrading your character and customizing there gear it would help to retain some of the RPG elements of the franchise, while these features are in the game they are very thin and never feel that they make much of an impact on game-play in fact I don't think crafting a new sword or amour ever made me feel any stronger or different at all. I think expanding on these parts of the game would have enhanced the combat and overall experience of the game as honestly as the game got nearer to the end I started ignoring more and more of the side content because it felt that very little of it actually mattered.
Where the story's concerned I think Final Fantasy XVI is very strong, the game throws a lot at you and it can be hard to follow at points but thankfully it's really easy to look up parts of the lore and backstory within the game which is a great feature. I also really came to like the central cast by the end of the game, there's some characters who don't leave much impact or just aren't that interesting but for the most part these are well written and acted characters. I do miss having a party and being able to customize and have control over there attacks and abilities but I understand why they decided to primarily focus on Clive in this case.
The game definitely has some pacing issues where it feels it sends you on needlessly tedious quests of just going about chatting to random people or collecting something just to fill up time so I think this could have been streamlined a bit as with a lot of the side content in the game.
There's definitely some issues with Final Fantasy XVI but when it's good its fantastic and that's usually when the games in it's more linear story moments, particularly the boss battles which are an impressive spectacle. It's not the best in the franchise or anything and if this is the path the series goes down I would like to see them add just a little bit more RPG elements into it's combat, but overall I'm happy with this game.
Where the story's concerned I think Final Fantasy XVI is very strong, the game throws a lot at you and it can be hard to follow at points but thankfully it's really easy to look up parts of the lore and backstory within the game which is a great feature. I also really came to like the central cast by the end of the game, there's some characters who don't leave much impact or just aren't that interesting but for the most part these are well written and acted characters. I do miss having a party and being able to customize and have control over there attacks and abilities but I understand why they decided to primarily focus on Clive in this case.
The game definitely has some pacing issues where it feels it sends you on needlessly tedious quests of just going about chatting to random people or collecting something just to fill up time so I think this could have been streamlined a bit as with a lot of the side content in the game.
There's definitely some issues with Final Fantasy XVI but when it's good its fantastic and that's usually when the games in it's more linear story moments, particularly the boss battles which are an impressive spectacle. It's not the best in the franchise or anything and if this is the path the series goes down I would like to see them add just a little bit more RPG elements into it's combat, but overall I'm happy with this game.