The combat and boss fights are the strong points of the game. It does a good job of making it all flashy and full of spectacle, by far the best parts of the game. I think limiting it to two moves per Eikon made it annoying to keep picking and choosing between battle styles, but each power was neat in its own way.
Now, everything else basically drags down what could have been a very good or great game.
The cutscenes with the kingdoms feel all over the place and directionless. They aren't executed well enough to make me care about what is going on, and they are inserted at awkward points. The characters are alright overall, but Jill in particular is very poorly handled. Aside from one mission dedicated to her, she just becomes a background character for Clive's gain without any real agency or impact of her own. One particular scene with her and Clive, along with one of the last scenes in the game with her, were particularly bad. Very disappointing outcome for her.
The items obtained out in the world and for quests are redundant and useless. You get a bunch of minor items over and over again that you will barely, if ever, use. The side quests are pretty poor overall as well. They don't amount to much aside from getting those aforementioned pointless items. One side quest involving chocobo did stand out, however, and it was a really touching moment that ended up affecting gameplay. So I do have to shoutout that quest. Very well done.
The level design just isn't good. I usually appreciate linear games that can scale down and keep things concise. FFXVI's problem is that the design within that linearity is very shallow. There aren't any interesting side areas to draw your attention, or just some branching to keep things fresh. You quickly run into invisible walls when you do want to explore a bit, and levels just look like small, straight and circular areas. Mission design is also underwhelming with most amounting to storming an area, Torgal catching scent of a wave of enemies, and taking them down over and over until you run into the main boss. All the while running through unimaginative levels sprinkled with unneeded items.
Finally, the game just drags and drags, especially as you get into the latter phase of the game -- "Oho, you beat me but I have another form and more godhood nonsense to babble about!". It feels like a decent 20 hour game stuffed with filler to push it into the 50 hour range.
I could see the makings of a great game. Instead, I got an okay experience that is hopefully a one off for the series.
Now, everything else basically drags down what could have been a very good or great game.
The cutscenes with the kingdoms feel all over the place and directionless. They aren't executed well enough to make me care about what is going on, and they are inserted at awkward points. The characters are alright overall, but Jill in particular is very poorly handled. Aside from one mission dedicated to her, she just becomes a background character for Clive's gain without any real agency or impact of her own. One particular scene with her and Clive, along with one of the last scenes in the game with her, were particularly bad. Very disappointing outcome for her.
The items obtained out in the world and for quests are redundant and useless. You get a bunch of minor items over and over again that you will barely, if ever, use. The side quests are pretty poor overall as well. They don't amount to much aside from getting those aforementioned pointless items. One side quest involving chocobo did stand out, however, and it was a really touching moment that ended up affecting gameplay. So I do have to shoutout that quest. Very well done.
The level design just isn't good. I usually appreciate linear games that can scale down and keep things concise. FFXVI's problem is that the design within that linearity is very shallow. There aren't any interesting side areas to draw your attention, or just some branching to keep things fresh. You quickly run into invisible walls when you do want to explore a bit, and levels just look like small, straight and circular areas. Mission design is also underwhelming with most amounting to storming an area, Torgal catching scent of a wave of enemies, and taking them down over and over until you run into the main boss. All the while running through unimaginative levels sprinkled with unneeded items.
Finally, the game just drags and drags, especially as you get into the latter phase of the game -- "Oho, you beat me but I have another form and more godhood nonsense to babble about!". It feels like a decent 20 hour game stuffed with filler to push it into the 50 hour range.
I could see the makings of a great game. Instead, I got an okay experience that is hopefully a one off for the series.