A difficult game to judge objectively. It's pretty simple, but it was never intended to be anything other than a breezy, charming entry point for RPG beginners. Had I played the original during its release, it likely would've captivated me and set me down a path of loving RPGs — something that in this timeline was reserved for Final Fantasy VII many years later. It doesn't have the depth of even some of its contemporaries, let alone games that followed, but I had fun with it.

That said, the changes made in this remake are all fairly detrimental to the whole package. The additions made to the battle system (splash damage, team attacks, swapping characters mid-battle) are neat, but they make an already easy game even less dependent on strategy. I would've loved to see an optional hard mode in addition to the even-easier mode they added.

Aesthetically, I'm glad they resisted any temptation to bring the character models closer to the modern Mario style guide, but things still feel a little sanitized. It's technically a very faithful adaptation of the original graphics, but it doesn't quite capture the game's atmosphere. And don't even get me started on the dialogue font, which is a problem in nearly every Square remaster/rerelease of the last several years and continues to be a huge sore spot for me.

Still, it's a good time, and the fact that Nintendo can sell what is essentially an SNES game in 2023 is a testament to its quality. Even if I would rather play that original.

I really, really wanted to like this game. I loved BOTW, but this didn't do it for me. I spent 50+ hours, and still felt like I was missing some crucial pieces of information or gear at every turn. A good open-world game should always make you feel like you're on the right path, but I never once felt that way here. Just felt like I was always doing the wrong things in the wrong order, and it made me not want to play. Maybe it's me, but it was a far cry from the wonder that was BOTW for me. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

They really got my number with this one.

I found the world, story, and characters of FF16 very compelling, and for me it all came together pretty well. The combat was equally as fun, so I never minded that many of the quests were "go over here and fight this thing."

I played every side quest and read every lore entry, and credit those two things with my appreciation of the overall story. Yes, one could easily argue that some of the information you get from random side quests or reading lore entries should've been woven into the main narrative, and you'd be fair to do so. It's all there, though, should you desire to find it.

There is plenty to critique in FF16's narrative, as well as its mechanics — it doesn't really do justice to the slavery story, and some of its systems (like crafting, and loot) feel under-considered, to name two big things — I nonetheless loved both the game's lore and its moment-to-moment action.

Imperfect though it may be, I enjoyed the heck out of it.