Before the launch of XVI the excitement seemed common as the demo dropped its introductory story chapters with a bag of promises for good things to come. And then there were tides a-coming hoo boy.
Even from where I stand with my verdict, it is fairly safe to say that no matter what you would think of XVI, past the demo chapters the narrative takes a plunge in a direction that can be hard to endourse.
With one of XVI's central thematics of staying with the present and keeping the past at your back, this carries strongly over to a narrative that takes both its time and duller moments to suddenly sweep through its story hardly reflecting back on itself as both central and side characters come and go, while the main character Clive Rosfield is the one you always share eyes and toes with as he stands on his own character and makes his bond with others.
It's tough to negotiate how to take the narrative's handling with its character building, and while you could argue that some characters are unproperly treated and left for dirt, there is also a touching bond and growth amongst the cast that sticks together towards the amazing final showdown.
Among some stupifying and dull moments there are such grand moments of excellence that makes the bag of goods utterly hard to value by one current, unless you're like me and hang on to the parts that you can always look forward to.
While sharing recurring elements from it's franchise XVI is an entirely different mechanically driven game, similar to other beat them ups made by Platinum along with its share of jrpg stats and gear elements to keep the momentum going as you progress. The combat is very easy to get into with its linear combo system and slightly diversing range of abilites you gain throughout the story, while parrying and positioning plays the central element particularily for the bigger enemies dps bursting out with special abilities whenever you can.
In structure XVI is built on a very handholdy and linear chapter focused narrative, while there are also cities and maps to explore with sidequests that will keep you busy per chapters.
It is all very streamlined to the degree that there's always directional guides of where to go, with the exception of the bounty board sidequesting gradually dishing out optional bossfights scattered around the world maps that you have to look for on your own. While some of these are just recycled buffed up monsters they were a pretty fun side endevour overall, although the difficulty generally is less likely to drive you up the walls, XVI is without a doubt the EASIEST Final Fantasy ever made.
That is, at least until you unlock hard mode after beating the game, which honestly is a weird toggle to unlock for a 60 hour run game, but what can you do?
The strongest moments lies in the main story chapter portions and incredible eikon boss fights, while the
sidequests for the most parts play themselves over each other, be it either fetch or hunting down some monsters alongside the majority of dialogues happening through glaringly cheap stock animated cutscenes.
I will say though that the sidequests builds on pretty much EVERY character in the game, so if you omit any, it may even kill away some character context for the later chapters.
Even if some of it can be incredibly dull and feel empty, it is highly recommended to get through them.
XVI's tale is an epic which in good old jrpg conventions goes from something down to earth to the superficial, and while it does falter with some silly plot decisions and pacing issues, there are plenty of redeeming moments of good thrills and great payoffs. Don't expect it to be a historical masterpiece and maybe you will enjoy it for what it is.
Even from where I stand with my verdict, it is fairly safe to say that no matter what you would think of XVI, past the demo chapters the narrative takes a plunge in a direction that can be hard to endourse.
With one of XVI's central thematics of staying with the present and keeping the past at your back, this carries strongly over to a narrative that takes both its time and duller moments to suddenly sweep through its story hardly reflecting back on itself as both central and side characters come and go, while the main character Clive Rosfield is the one you always share eyes and toes with as he stands on his own character and makes his bond with others.
It's tough to negotiate how to take the narrative's handling with its character building, and while you could argue that some characters are unproperly treated and left for dirt, there is also a touching bond and growth amongst the cast that sticks together towards the amazing final showdown.
Among some stupifying and dull moments there are such grand moments of excellence that makes the bag of goods utterly hard to value by one current, unless you're like me and hang on to the parts that you can always look forward to.
While sharing recurring elements from it's franchise XVI is an entirely different mechanically driven game, similar to other beat them ups made by Platinum along with its share of jrpg stats and gear elements to keep the momentum going as you progress. The combat is very easy to get into with its linear combo system and slightly diversing range of abilites you gain throughout the story, while parrying and positioning plays the central element particularily for the bigger enemies dps bursting out with special abilities whenever you can.
In structure XVI is built on a very handholdy and linear chapter focused narrative, while there are also cities and maps to explore with sidequests that will keep you busy per chapters.
It is all very streamlined to the degree that there's always directional guides of where to go, with the exception of the bounty board sidequesting gradually dishing out optional bossfights scattered around the world maps that you have to look for on your own. While some of these are just recycled buffed up monsters they were a pretty fun side endevour overall, although the difficulty generally is less likely to drive you up the walls, XVI is without a doubt the EASIEST Final Fantasy ever made.
That is, at least until you unlock hard mode after beating the game, which honestly is a weird toggle to unlock for a 60 hour run game, but what can you do?
The strongest moments lies in the main story chapter portions and incredible eikon boss fights, while the
sidequests for the most parts play themselves over each other, be it either fetch or hunting down some monsters alongside the majority of dialogues happening through glaringly cheap stock animated cutscenes.
I will say though that the sidequests builds on pretty much EVERY character in the game, so if you omit any, it may even kill away some character context for the later chapters.
Even if some of it can be incredibly dull and feel empty, it is highly recommended to get through them.
XVI's tale is an epic which in good old jrpg conventions goes from something down to earth to the superficial, and while it does falter with some silly plot decisions and pacing issues, there are plenty of redeeming moments of good thrills and great payoffs. Don't expect it to be a historical masterpiece and maybe you will enjoy it for what it is.