Amazing game. Yes, they say "fuck" a goofy amount of times. And half, maybe more of the sidequests could probably be removed to the game's benefit. But this is an outstanding opus of a game, with sweet sentimentality and unmistakable JRPG idealism separating it from the typical modern western dark fantasy. If the Eikon battles don't get your blood pumping, or Clive's burning spirit never endears you, or Edita's enthusiasm for writing doesn't warm your heart, you just might not have a soul.

The backlash to this game's tone is like an absurd inversion of Wind Waker's 2001 reveal, when many gamers were outraged at the baby ass new cartoony Zelda game. 22 years later, many gamers were simply too enlightened to accept that Final Fantasy is showing almost-nudity and chocobo beheadings. For me, the fact that this game is anathema to loathsome hipsters who write 5-star reviews about how Final Fantasy 2 is bad in like, in a really beautiful romantic way only they could understand, is icing on the cake. The distaste for how far this strays from the series' gameplay roots is a lot more understandable, but Final Fantasy has gradually been drifting towards action as early as FF4--the whole point of ATB was that it was a compromise between classic turn-based and action. I love action games, and as a fan of DMC and Bayonetta, I thought this one was quite a fun time.

Producer Yoshi-P said that trying to please everyone would "run the risk of creating a half-baked compromise of a game." Indeed, Final Fantasy XVI is unapologetically exactly what it sets out to be--action-packed and epic, but very invested in its characters' struggles. And works of art like this--which are willing to show unabashed bleakness one minute and warm your heart to the core another, willing to show you into the most bombastic massive battle of your life and immerse you in the regular people's plight--always resonated with me. Also, the game is gorgeous about 99% of the time, the music is excellent, the action combat gets more and more fun as you unlock more abilities, and the spectacle and dramatic scope is exactly what you'd want out of Final Fantasy. The highs are so high, even the undeniable boredom of its dozens of fetch quests can't stop me from loving it.

Still should've had a full Chocobo remix.

This game blew me away the first time I played through it and I was immediately convinced it was maybe the best game ever made. The more time you spend with this game though, the more you see the problems. All the shrines look the same, all the dungeons look the same, all dungeon bosses (except the DLC one) look the same, there aren't enough unique enemies for such a huge world, and the final boss and ending are the lamest in the entire series by far. Most of the story already happened, almost all the interesting characters are already gone, Ganon is lame, there isn't enough unique music, and once your gear is good enough you stop wanting to fight enemies because you'd just be wasting all your good weapons to get clubs and boomerangs that pale in comparison to your badass lightning swords. Even the Master Sword runs on a battery and the Hylian Shield can still break eventually.

But that first playthrough is really something. Messing around with the physics engine, constantly having something interesting to run to, having to find it yourself instead of it being one of a million waypoints on your map, it's all really fun. The first time through it feels like the amount of fun things to do is endless. And of course, the slight RPG elements they added were something I wanted for a long time and it's awesome to play a Zelda game with all these different outfits and weapons to acquire. I especially like the interactivity of the temperature system and how the physics overall are the perfect mix of cartoony and "real" to feel intuitive.

All those flaws I listed in the first paragraph are real issues and something every major Zelda game after this needs to address. But I recognize them as growing pains for the series as they're trying something completely different and fresh with this game, something I respect immensely. There are five 3D Zelda games that are all variations on the same formula, so I'm totally fine with them making a game that tries to synthesize the classic Zelda essence with modern open world gameplay. The result is the first Zelda game in years that actually feels cutting edge for its day.