If anyone asked me what my all-time favourite game was, I’d reply Final Fantasy VII in a heartbeat – and, in general, one of my favourite video game franchises ever is definitely Final Fantasy. I’ve played almost all the single-player entries in the main series, but I must admit, the last one that I really, truly liked was FF12 (not counting the remake of FF7, of course). The FF13 trilogy was not bad, but not that good, either, and FF15 was basically incomplete when I played it at its release, not to mention that, for me, it felt more like an action game than a JRPG.
And here we are… Final Fantasy XVI is finally here, but, unfortunately for me, it’s following in the footsteps of FF15 and even Stranger of Paradise, and not the previous, older titles. What’s more, it’s even more action-oriented, so much so that I wouldn’t even call this an RPG anymore. Of course, this, in and of itself, is not a problem, there are many action games I love. There’s God of War, Bayonetta, I’ve just finished Code Vein not so long ago, and so on, so I’m not against action. However, distancing itself from its roots so drastically, this didn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game for me, at all… It was more like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, two completely different franchises…
Don’t get me wrong, though, there are no major issues with the game. Graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack and voice acting are superb (I especially loved how they remixed some classic FF tracks), the gameplay is fluid, and some of the boss battles are crazy spectacular, like nothing I’ve ever seen. As for the plot… well, it’s dark. And I mean really dark. There’s dark fantasy, heavy dark fantasy, and then there’s FF16. If you’re even a bit like me and have an aversion to such stories, prepare yourself mentally before playing… There’s a good reason this is only recommended for mature gamers. It starts out as Game of Thrones, and becomes a bit like The Lord of the Rings towards the end, filled with lots of blood, suffering and gore. Don’t expect all those funny and cute elements many previous FF entries had.
What else is there to say? I absolutely loved the Active Time Lore feature, it made the first half of the game much easier to understand (there was something similar in Pentiment, too), so at least you won’t get lost in the labyrinth of all the different names and terms. There are no minigames, but we get quite a lot of side quests, some insanely boring, some more fun – and otherwise, it’s just running, fighting, watching cutscenes, more fighting, more cutscenes, then rinse and repeat. Completely linear, nothing too complicated. Enemy variety is quite lacking, if you ask me, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the dull, bland locations, either, none of them were worth remembering for me.
Please note that this is simply my own, subjective opinion, and I’m sure many of you will find this game superb. I totally understand the good review scores it got, if you’re into action titles you won’t get disappointed. As someone who expected a more classic approach, I had the feeling that amidst all the blood, darkness and battles the heart and soul of the series somehow got lost…
… so I’ll keep waiting for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
And here we are… Final Fantasy XVI is finally here, but, unfortunately for me, it’s following in the footsteps of FF15 and even Stranger of Paradise, and not the previous, older titles. What’s more, it’s even more action-oriented, so much so that I wouldn’t even call this an RPG anymore. Of course, this, in and of itself, is not a problem, there are many action games I love. There’s God of War, Bayonetta, I’ve just finished Code Vein not so long ago, and so on, so I’m not against action. However, distancing itself from its roots so drastically, this didn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game for me, at all… It was more like Dark Souls or Devil May Cry, two completely different franchises…
Don’t get me wrong, though, there are no major issues with the game. Graphics are beautiful, the soundtrack and voice acting are superb (I especially loved how they remixed some classic FF tracks), the gameplay is fluid, and some of the boss battles are crazy spectacular, like nothing I’ve ever seen. As for the plot… well, it’s dark. And I mean really dark. There’s dark fantasy, heavy dark fantasy, and then there’s FF16. If you’re even a bit like me and have an aversion to such stories, prepare yourself mentally before playing… There’s a good reason this is only recommended for mature gamers. It starts out as Game of Thrones, and becomes a bit like The Lord of the Rings towards the end, filled with lots of blood, suffering and gore. Don’t expect all those funny and cute elements many previous FF entries had.
What else is there to say? I absolutely loved the Active Time Lore feature, it made the first half of the game much easier to understand (there was something similar in Pentiment, too), so at least you won’t get lost in the labyrinth of all the different names and terms. There are no minigames, but we get quite a lot of side quests, some insanely boring, some more fun – and otherwise, it’s just running, fighting, watching cutscenes, more fighting, more cutscenes, then rinse and repeat. Completely linear, nothing too complicated. Enemy variety is quite lacking, if you ask me, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the dull, bland locations, either, none of them were worth remembering for me.
Please note that this is simply my own, subjective opinion, and I’m sure many of you will find this game superb. I totally understand the good review scores it got, if you’re into action titles you won’t get disappointed. As someone who expected a more classic approach, I had the feeling that amidst all the blood, darkness and battles the heart and soul of the series somehow got lost…
… so I’ll keep waiting for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.