The Final Fantasy series includes some of my favorite games of all time, so I was ready to give this a go on launch day! For Final Fantasy XVI, I knew it was going to be different before I started – and I purposely kept myself ignorant of marketing materials before it was released. I believe I watched a single trailer when it was announced, and that was all.
I wanted to go into this game without anyone else influencing my thoughts or opinion on it and no hype. I largely succeeded, and that is not an easy thing to do nowadays! After completing the game, I have a number of things to discuss, and I will be sure to keep story-related spoilers behind cuts so that the review can be as spoiler-free as possible.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy XVI is drastically different from the titles that came before it. It is so different, it as at times very difficult to remember that I am playing a Final Fantasy title, and not a variant of Devil May Cry.
Combat
Although sad for me, the Final Fantasy series has departed from the turn-based combat that I grew up on. This game felt like a mash-up between God of War and Devil May Cry at times: your combat will be fast, dodging and combos will become very important, and you will have quick-time events.
Throughout the game you will have control of the main character, Clive. As you go through the game, you’ll encounter creatures to fight in real-time, many of which are very fast and very strong. If you are like me, and you have poor reflexes and tend to have tunnel vision when playing games – this is very daunting and off-putting. (I wanted to play Final Fantasy, not Dark Souls!)
I can comfortably say I was able to finish the game without too much struggle – even with the complex combat – because the developers of this game have spent an extreme amount of time making sure that it is actually playable by folks with varying skill levels.
The difficulty varies based on how you’d like to play, and can be changed at any time. There are five options within the game that you can use to adjust the difficulty to your comfort:
- Ring of Timely Strikes – lets you complete combos by just pressing square a lot.
- Ring of Timely Focus – slows down time for some attacks and providing a trigger to help you dodge.
- Ring of Timely Evasion – auto-dodges attacks (no trigger needed, and the Ring of Timely Focus does not function if this is equipped)
- Ring of Timely Healing – automatically uses a potion when needed
- Ring of Timely Assistance – auto-pilot for Torgal (you do not need this AND the Ring of Timely Strikes)
The use of these do help to drastically change the difficulty of the game – although I really wish these had functioned as a toggle option in the game itself rather than items. These rings will go into your accessory slots, and you only have three slots available throughout the entire game. This was largely fine for me at first, however later in the game when I began to obtain better gear, I found that I had to choose between gear or combat assistance. (Uh, I ended up with combat assistance…)
I used the Ring of Timely Strikes and the Ring of Timely focus through the entire game. I did also have the Ring of Timely Assistance turned on for the longest time, until my lovely partner pointed out that the Ring of Timely Strikes also provides the same effect, so both are not needed.
I did at times try to remove the rings and just use the combat itself, but I found I was not quick enough to switch between abilities, I couldn’t get combos to happen, and I was getting rolled over by creatures. Without the option to use them, I could not have finished the game – so I am grateful for them; but I really wish they had been toggles instead.
It is easy enough to argue that using these in addition to some of the high-end gear would make the game TOO easy; but I feel like I was playing at a ‘medium’ level, and would have benefited from extra EXP, Ability Points, or the shorter cool downs on abilities. Later in the game, I did have an accessory to provide additional Ability Points which I used until close to the end.
With the two options I had selected, I was able to just press square most of the time to execute combos (with the option to select my abilities as well, if I chose to), and while the dodge trigger came up now and then, it still required that I pay attention as it didn’t provide the trigger for every action that could be evaded.
In the beginning, your basic options for combat will be an attack, a magic skill, and an ‘eikonic feat’. As you progress through the story and level up, you will learn additional actions that you can use and create combos with. If you have played Final Fantasy X, you might find that this menu functions almost like the sphere grid… with the added addition that if you do not like a skill, you can un-learn it and move those points elsewhere.
The basic attack is performed with the square button, you can use magic with triangle, and you can dodge or parry by hitting R1. Circle uses the eikonic feat, and you can press R2 to select abilities when you have them learned. Also fun, you can select different controller layouts if you would prefer your buttons to be organized a little differently; but I ended with the default.
There is a limit break available, which has the added bonus of restoring your HP while in use! Interestingly, the limit break gauge feels so quickly you can use it in just about every combat (sometimes more than once!).
Combat for me, was pretty straight-forward: hit square a lot, dodge as best you can, and you win. My partner played without rings (except for the one for Torgal) and had a very different experience – telling me that it felt very involved and challenging.
It is odd that the game does not make use of status ailments of any kind, nor do elements make any impact. It is odd to me that Phoenix and Ifrit can fight each other with the same impact that Shiva and Ifrit would have. I guess you can just use fire to put out another fire?
They definitely took great care to make the game playable by a wide audience and it shows. I will stand by the fact that these should have been toggle options, however.
Menus
The menus in the game are smooth, clean and easy to use. Not so easy to read however. I felt completely blind when I started the game, as the fonts used in all of the menus is so incredibly tiny. You are able to increase the size of the text used for subtitles, but not for the menus. This was so difficult for me initially that I almost just couldn’t play at all.
Solving this for me meant actually measuring the distance from the couch to the TV: for a 55′ TV, apparently, I should be about 6.9 ft away and I was closer to 9 ft. I would argue that a game made for a console shouldn’t be quite that specific, as who is going to rearrange their house to play a game? (The answer is me. I did. I can move the couch back now…)
The primary menu consists of a map, journal, item, equipped gear/abilities, abilities (status of them and selection), character stats and then system.
One of the best menus in the game (which is not part of the main menu) is the Active Time Lore – you can press the pad on the controller to access it at nearly any time (even in cut scenes!) to get background information on characters or locations you are interacting with. With a game this big, that menu was incredibly helpful at times! I wish more games had this feature! (In fact, as I have jumped back into Final Fantasy XVI, I can’t remember who is who and I miss this!)
One of the strangest menus of all, is the character status.
Note there are *SPOILERS* behind the next statement. Don’t click it if you haven’t finished the game!
The tab for Clive makes perfect sense – it lists all of his information as he levels through the game.
Note there are *SPOILERS* behind the next statement. Don’t click it if you haven’t finished the game!
*SPOILERS* Interestingly, there is also a tab for Torgal.
It is nice to see Torgal’s progress, however at the bottom it lists abilities for him as well… abilities you can not select or control in anyway.
There are a few places throughout the game that I strongly feel are ‘unfinished’ – as though there were plans made and started, but had to be cut short. Torgal is one of them, unfortunately. Torgal is a great companion to have, and helpful in battle – and it seems like he has a limit break function, but there is no indicator of how or when it triggers. He also has a progress bar to indicate progress, as well as a list of skills – but no indicator of what this bar changes, nor can you control when these skills are used (or even what they do!).
Items
Unlike the previous titles in this series, Final Fantasy XVI has an extremely small selection of items to make use of on your journey. There are no remedys (uh, there aren’t even status effects?!), no phoenix downs (… I guess you are a party of one…?), no ethers (magic is unlimited…?) and such.
Also, for whatever reason, it seems that a Hi-Potion has been changed to High Potion. Once seen, this cannot be unseen.
You will have a limited number of potions, high potions hi-potions, and elixers should your HP get low (or you can just use your Limit Break!), as well has a handful of tonics to temporarily boost your attack or defense. I did not find that I used the tonics much at all, but I did use potions quite a bit.
There are also a number of items found in the game that are listed as ‘crafting items’ – but don’t get excited, there is no real crafting in this game. All of these materials are used to take to the blacksmith and have armor or swords (can’t even say ‘weapon’ – the only item you’ll get is a sword!).
There are a few things that can be obtained that seem to have no purpose other than to sell for gil, but honestly through the game I was never hurting for gil. Towards the end I had so much of it that I would just buy out a merchant’s inventory.
Party
One of the great things about a Final Fantasy game is having a party of different folks that you can customize a bit, and usually you have party members serving different roles/jobs/classes. Not the case in Final Fantasy XVI.
In this game, you are Clive and Torgal comes with you. You only have control over Clive. Although Torgal is in your party, you can’t change his gear or make use of his stats or abilities. (Technically you can use his functions in combat to tell him to attack or heal, but that is it.)
Clive is a swordsman, and you don’t get to change that. It feels really strange to play a Final Fantasy game and have no white/black mages. There are at least dragoons in the game, but you don’t get to play one.
There are some places in the game where other characters will join you, and they are technically listed within your party – but again, you have no authority over them. They have the gear and abilities they have, and you can not see it nor can you impact how they function in any way.
In some reviews, I noticed some lamenting that having a party was essential due to the character development around the group, conversations that would occur, etc. After playing through the game, I can tell you that at least this part is incorrect: you will have a LOT of character development around Clive, Torgal, and other characters who join your party. You won’t miss out on any of that!
Story
I will be very honest: when I began the game, it felt like I was playing Game of Thrones. Jon Snow had a new hairstyle, Ghost was now grey, and Ned Stark was the same. (I had to check the voice actor. I am not sure I could have handled it if Elwin was voiced by Sean Bean.)
While there are a lot of similarities, and it is very clearly heavily influenced – it will not take long before Final Fantasy XVI reminds you that it is in fact, a Final Fantasy story.
One of the first amazing characters you’ll be introduced to will be Cid – and Cid is the best version of Cid you could imagine. In my own ranking of Cid, he gets the new number 1 spot. (Followed by Cid Highwind, and then Cid Garlond)
Cid has such an incredible impact on the story, and is the driving force behind a lot of characters.
I don’t want to relay the entire story here, not just to avoid spoilers – but because it really is so good that I wouldn’t want you to miss out on experiencing it. The game is going to touch on some difficult topics – slavery, autonomy, and religion; and it has some very emotional story lines.
Although the main story in itself is wonderful, the side-quests and characters really provide an amazingly well-rounded world. Also, Torgal. Torgal is the best companion, ever.
Additional Thoughts
Note there are *SPOILERS* behind the next statement. Major Spoilers. Do not click it unless you want to review multiple end-game situations.
Most of the content I am adding to this section is very SPOILER heavy. Do not read through this portion if you have not completed the game if you don’t want it to be spoiled for you. *MAJOR SPOILERS*
Ambrosia
Ambrosia is Clive’s chocobo. She has a pretty strong impact in the beginning of the game, and amazingly, she will rejoin you later on. This is adorable, and I found her to be useful when the map started to get quite large. (Also, she can flutter when jumping to glide a bit, and it is incredibly cute!)
That aside – outside of those two situations, she is basically forgotten about for the rest of the game. It feels like she was either an afterthought, or something was not completed. Towards the end of the game, when you are in side-quest purgatory, many characters have quests that will wrap up their story-lines, or allow Clive to give parting words – but for some reason, Ambrosia doesn’t get one.
There is actually a side-quest for you that involves finding a special chocobo feather, and yet Ambroisa isn’t mentioned – these two random chocobos get more of a parting word than she does! I’m bothered by this. Why does Ambrosia not have an ending? Why doesn’t Clive tell her goodbye? What happens to her?!
Leviathan the Lost
Several times the game specifically mentions that there are eight eikons, and lists the elements (light, dark, fire, ice, earth, wind, lightning, and water) – yet we only go through seven of them. There is even a mural which depicts all of the eikons – featuring the eighth one – Leviathan.
When you come across it, the only mention to it in the entire game, is one comment about ‘Leviathan the Lost’. No explanation, no information in the lore. You never see it, discuss it further, and it is abandoned.
Why? If it was planned to be in the game, and later cut – why not go back and just remove the bits of text referencing it? More annoyingly, despite being promised that this will be a ‘complete’ game and no DLC would be needed – this feels like either an oversight, something left incomplete, or an intentional hole… to fit in DLC.
In my opinion, it feels like something that was planned and then cut out (whether budgetary or time related). At the end of the game, during the battle with Ultima, each of the eikon’s skills are used. Except for Leviathan. Why? Ultima would have known about it, and would have known that this was the one ability Clive did not have – and could have used it against him here. It feels very incomplete.
Biggs and Wedge
Biggs and Wedge do not make an appearance in this entry. This is incredibly disappointing, especially given that early game you have two characters who fit perfectly: Sir Tyler and Sir Wade.
I realize that there are Final Fantasy games that do not contain Biggs and Wedge, but given the perfect opportunity to add them, why not? (I will stick by the head canon that their full names are Tyler Wedge and Wade Biggs.)
I did find a theory that perhaps they did not due to Disney now owning Star Wars, and since this is a reference to Star Wars, perhaps Square Enix did not want to take the risk. That seemed somewhat plausible… right up until, “I love you.” “I know.”
Enterprise
The addition of the Enterprise was nice. Right up until the part where she was never going to be an airship? This once again feels like an area that was planned and then later scrapped. There are a lot of quests involved in getting parts for this airship, only for Mid to decide that it might not be okay to build one and instead through the plans into the ocean.
Mid spends her education learning about being an engineer, and stresses how important it was to her to finish building this as she had worked on it with her dad – only to not finish it? After a very sudden 180 in direction, she actually just scraps the whole thing and tosses it into the trash.
Doctor Quinn Medicine Girl
The Medicine Girl shows up a few times, and usually interacting with main characters. She bumps into Joshua early on, and later is vital in Dion’s recovery – so much so, that he sends Terrence to look after her in the end. However, she’s given so little story or background, that it just seems like a random NPC – or someone who should have had a lot more input.
Given her location, and the mention that both of her parents died – I wonder if she may be related to the lost eikon in some way? Why is this otherwise fairly random character important enough to be named in the lore, but has such little impact?
Clive and Jill
Clive and Jill are beautiful. This relationship is so well handled – it is slow to grow, it is not the star of the show but it is present. The way the characters look to each other for strength, the way they stand together to tackle difficult things in their lives, and even the sadness of their goodbyes.
I adore that Jill herself is clothed*, stands on her own two feet and fights with her own sword. She does not hide behind Clive, nor does she place herself in stupid positions.
*While its totally fine for female characters to wear whatever, it’s very frustrating that the vast majority of video games are designed by men and always make them hypersexualized and in skimpy clothing when it does not match the character. Jill’s outfit was fitting of her character and allowed her to function. She is not wearing high heels, for example.
Dion / Bahamut
I mentioned before that Torgal and Cid are amazing characters,and they have a tremendous impact on the game. I can not leave out mentioning just how incredible Dion is as well. Dion has an excellent voice actor, is a dragoon, and is the dominant for Bahamut.
His character goes through some serious shit, yet he remains noble and kind, and takes ownership for his actions. My only regret is that he did not say goodbye to Terrence.
Torgal
Torgal is the best thing in this game and you’ll never convince me otherwise.
While at times the game seems to forget Torgal is a character in his own right, when they do recognize him again he always leaves such an impression. He is faithful, magical, helpful, and his dedication to Clive mirrors Clive’s own dedication to Joshua. Do not skip the Torgal side-quests.
Do not.
Overall Review
I give Final Fantasy XVI an 8 out of 10. The story is incredible, and brought me to ugly tears a few times. The world is big and the lore is intricate – and we are introduced to the Active Time Lore, which should be the standard for large games like this!
The voice acting gets a solid 10/10, however. Ben Starr absolutely knocks it out of the park, and we get to see Stephen Critchlow one more time.
The characters are amazing, the music is great. However, I knocked it down two stars because there are so many things that feel unfinished, and at times – just lazy. (Some creature designs and mechanics are just a copy and paste from Final Fantasy XIV!)
It feels like so much was poured into the combat system and graphics – that halfway through the game it feels like it becomes rushed. Not all of the eikon fights are as epic as they should be (ahem, Odin), and the pacing goes off the rails towards the end when all of the side-quests are dumped on you all at once.
Additionally, although the format of the game grew on me and the story was great – it lacks many things traditionally present within a Final Fantasy game, but in ways that make it feel unfinished rather than a conscious choice. That said, I would still strongly recommend it.
If you’d like to see more about my play-through and experience of it, you can see most of my game on YouTube. (Normally, I’d be happy to embed it for you, but with the game being rated M, it’s a bit restricted on YouTube.)
I’d also love to hear any thoughts anyone else had when playing – did you have the same feelings as me? Do you have other theories about how things were handled, or anything you particularly loved/hated?
The Bardic Unicorn 