This review contains spoilers
This may be the only long review I ever post, but given the plethora of emotions swirling around in my gut since finishing the game moments before writing this, I don't think I could possibly sum up my thoughts in a few sentences, and I think this game deserves to be reviewed thoughtfully.
FINAL FANTASY 16 IS PEAK GAMING!
I know that die hard fans are taking to reddit forums in despair, for Yoshida-sama did not provide them the FF 6-10 experience they have been craving since graduating high school in 2008, but I am happy to say I enjoyed the game deeply in their place.
I went into the demo never having played a Final Fantasy title in my life, nor had I seen any trailer to give me an idea of what to expect. I blindly played through the demo and was completely enthralled with the masterful world building, combat system, and voice acting. It was one of the very few titles I've played since the release of PS5/Series X that struck me as true next-gen gaming.
However, I won't lie that the game has lulls and pacing issues, and they don't always feel necessary to drive the story forward, and I scarcely thought they added to the scale or depth of the game's stronger content. Riddled with many headaches commonly found in open world games, I found myself wishing many of the open world areas could have been more linear, or condensed all together. Stagnant towns and inaccessible cities made me feel like someone was trying to gaslight me into thinking this was an open world game. I wondered often if there was internal pressure to make it a moderately open world for the sake of appealing to a demographic that appreciates that sort of thing. Whatever, I got used to it, the only thing I truly won't miss is that jarring audio snippet when mounting Ambrosia, that was just never in the same key as whatever soundtrack was playing in the background. Badass bird though.
Spoilers begin here, and I'm not holding back.
After fighting Ifrit as the Phoenix for the first time I was prepared for a cinematic driven experience that would be interesting, but not necessarily challenging. I'd played many games before where I would dreadfully slash away at a boss just for the game to take over and do all the cool stuff at the press of a single Quick Time Event. Boy was I wrong.
After sludging through the ever necessary training arc, learning about the world, the Eikons, Clive's moveset, and Benedikta's outfit, I quickly found myself confident that I knew what the game had to offer. Constantly impressed by the writing and genuine voice acting, I found myself growing attached to characters of tropes I'd usually have little interest in. I was invested in every character, their relationships and their individual struggles. Aside from the marvelously constructed main cast, NPCs seemed to be adequately written, even though you may hear them say the same thing every time you run past them if you don't move forward with the main quest for a while.
But then the game begins to hit you all at once, you see the ripple effect of your actions, and the way your pursuits begin to affect the lives of others, erupting the very evil you're trying to extinguish. It quickly becomes darker than you imagined, and the scale of your efforts and obstacles are grander than you could have prepared for. The first time I felt sorrow was seeing Clive lament as Kupka destroys his father's throne, but it quickly sets in that it couldn't possibly compare to what you took from him. I was so hooked.
The fight against Titan blew me away. I was speechless. I gained control of my Eikon and I proceeded to slap the shit out of this guy 3 times my size who just grew his hands back. But after I kicked some ass he eats magical crack rocks and turns into a mountain with tentacles... was this the final boss? Why is there Jet Set Radio music? There is no reason or expectation to create something at such a colossal scale midway through the game, but they did it again anyways.
Bahamut SNAPS at his dickhead little brother who deserved everything he had coming, but in Bahamut's justified city-destroying blind rage, my brother fused with me from behind (uhm) and we took the battle somewhere a little more appropriate - space. Literal outer space in my medieval fantasy game. I’m pretty sure I remember making involuntary sounds multiple times through this fight thinking that this was the coolest thing I had ever done in a game since getting a 3 for 1 Spartan Laser kill in Halo 3. Peak video gaming. Really though, that was the peak. The quality didn't dwindle but I don't think anything after that felt quite as captivating despite finding myself becoming more and more invested in the plot and lore.
Odin was epic, bro was a little weird but it was definitely the most challenging boss fight for me, and I think mechanically the most fun and rewarding. I wish a little more had been done with it, another phase, more Eikon vs Eikon, but whatever, it's still fantastic. Overall I think the Eikon fights were remarkable, the quality was like nothing I'd ever seen in a game before, and the Quick Time Events were like a cinematic cherry on top to indulge in, rather than ever interrupting your experience.
During and right before finishing the story I took the time to make sure I did every side quest, besides the 3 I forgot to hand in before the second time skip. Oops. I painstakingly listened to every line and did my best to not rip my hair out while fetching some guy his 3 little fruits or flowers after saving the world from a dragon and literal Odin. From what I remember, all the people asking me to get them stuff had legs so I'm not quite sure why I even had to do that. The more involved side quests were great though, especially ones involving folks at the hideaway. My favourites were Blackthorne's, visiting the snow daisies with Jill, and visiting the island with Torgal. I'd argue these more significant side quests are essential to world building and connecting with the main and supporting cast.
[FINAL MISSION SPOILERS]
After I felt like I had done everything there was to do in my first playthrough, I fought Ultima. I kind of expected that Dion and Joshua weren't coming back, I was sad but driven to fix the world so I could return to my friends at the hideaway. I was CERTAIN I would be returning to them. But I didn't.
I think this might be one of the first times I've ever felt this level of grief over a video game. I thought the curse wouldn't affect me, I thought my vessel would be enough to handle all the powers I absorbed. I'm not sure why, after all the self awareness Clive had of man's imperfections and limitations, I thought he would somehow be different, but he wasn't. Despite not being completely fond of Jill through most of the game, by the end of the story I did quite like her, and seeing her run out of the infirmary after watching the red star's light fade really broke me, and seeing Gav having to discern Clive's death second hand wasn't any easier. Seeing Jill fall to her knees to hug Torgal was when I finally had to wipe my eyes, and accept it myself. It was a painful ending, but I don't think it would have impacted me as hard or effectively any other way. I will play it again and gather the remaining trophies when I'm ready, but for now it was easily one of the top single player gaming experiences I have ever had.
Fuck Quinten though. I hated that guy.
Favourite Fight: Bahamut
Favourite Eikon: Ifrit
Favourite Character: Dion
Visuals: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Combat: 9/10
World: 9/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Writing: 9/10
Voice Acting: 10/10
Pacing 7/10
Photo mode: 2/10 (what happened here?)
UX/UI: 9/10
FINAL FANTASY 16 IS PEAK GAMING!
I know that die hard fans are taking to reddit forums in despair, for Yoshida-sama did not provide them the FF 6-10 experience they have been craving since graduating high school in 2008, but I am happy to say I enjoyed the game deeply in their place.
I went into the demo never having played a Final Fantasy title in my life, nor had I seen any trailer to give me an idea of what to expect. I blindly played through the demo and was completely enthralled with the masterful world building, combat system, and voice acting. It was one of the very few titles I've played since the release of PS5/Series X that struck me as true next-gen gaming.
However, I won't lie that the game has lulls and pacing issues, and they don't always feel necessary to drive the story forward, and I scarcely thought they added to the scale or depth of the game's stronger content. Riddled with many headaches commonly found in open world games, I found myself wishing many of the open world areas could have been more linear, or condensed all together. Stagnant towns and inaccessible cities made me feel like someone was trying to gaslight me into thinking this was an open world game. I wondered often if there was internal pressure to make it a moderately open world for the sake of appealing to a demographic that appreciates that sort of thing. Whatever, I got used to it, the only thing I truly won't miss is that jarring audio snippet when mounting Ambrosia, that was just never in the same key as whatever soundtrack was playing in the background. Badass bird though.
Spoilers begin here, and I'm not holding back.
After fighting Ifrit as the Phoenix for the first time I was prepared for a cinematic driven experience that would be interesting, but not necessarily challenging. I'd played many games before where I would dreadfully slash away at a boss just for the game to take over and do all the cool stuff at the press of a single Quick Time Event. Boy was I wrong.
After sludging through the ever necessary training arc, learning about the world, the Eikons, Clive's moveset, and Benedikta's outfit, I quickly found myself confident that I knew what the game had to offer. Constantly impressed by the writing and genuine voice acting, I found myself growing attached to characters of tropes I'd usually have little interest in. I was invested in every character, their relationships and their individual struggles. Aside from the marvelously constructed main cast, NPCs seemed to be adequately written, even though you may hear them say the same thing every time you run past them if you don't move forward with the main quest for a while.
But then the game begins to hit you all at once, you see the ripple effect of your actions, and the way your pursuits begin to affect the lives of others, erupting the very evil you're trying to extinguish. It quickly becomes darker than you imagined, and the scale of your efforts and obstacles are grander than you could have prepared for. The first time I felt sorrow was seeing Clive lament as Kupka destroys his father's throne, but it quickly sets in that it couldn't possibly compare to what you took from him. I was so hooked.
The fight against Titan blew me away. I was speechless. I gained control of my Eikon and I proceeded to slap the shit out of this guy 3 times my size who just grew his hands back. But after I kicked some ass he eats magical crack rocks and turns into a mountain with tentacles... was this the final boss? Why is there Jet Set Radio music? There is no reason or expectation to create something at such a colossal scale midway through the game, but they did it again anyways.
Bahamut SNAPS at his dickhead little brother who deserved everything he had coming, but in Bahamut's justified city-destroying blind rage, my brother fused with me from behind (uhm) and we took the battle somewhere a little more appropriate - space. Literal outer space in my medieval fantasy game. I’m pretty sure I remember making involuntary sounds multiple times through this fight thinking that this was the coolest thing I had ever done in a game since getting a 3 for 1 Spartan Laser kill in Halo 3. Peak video gaming. Really though, that was the peak. The quality didn't dwindle but I don't think anything after that felt quite as captivating despite finding myself becoming more and more invested in the plot and lore.
Odin was epic, bro was a little weird but it was definitely the most challenging boss fight for me, and I think mechanically the most fun and rewarding. I wish a little more had been done with it, another phase, more Eikon vs Eikon, but whatever, it's still fantastic. Overall I think the Eikon fights were remarkable, the quality was like nothing I'd ever seen in a game before, and the Quick Time Events were like a cinematic cherry on top to indulge in, rather than ever interrupting your experience.
During and right before finishing the story I took the time to make sure I did every side quest, besides the 3 I forgot to hand in before the second time skip. Oops. I painstakingly listened to every line and did my best to not rip my hair out while fetching some guy his 3 little fruits or flowers after saving the world from a dragon and literal Odin. From what I remember, all the people asking me to get them stuff had legs so I'm not quite sure why I even had to do that. The more involved side quests were great though, especially ones involving folks at the hideaway. My favourites were Blackthorne's, visiting the snow daisies with Jill, and visiting the island with Torgal. I'd argue these more significant side quests are essential to world building and connecting with the main and supporting cast.
[FINAL MISSION SPOILERS]
After I felt like I had done everything there was to do in my first playthrough, I fought Ultima. I kind of expected that Dion and Joshua weren't coming back, I was sad but driven to fix the world so I could return to my friends at the hideaway. I was CERTAIN I would be returning to them. But I didn't.
I think this might be one of the first times I've ever felt this level of grief over a video game. I thought the curse wouldn't affect me, I thought my vessel would be enough to handle all the powers I absorbed. I'm not sure why, after all the self awareness Clive had of man's imperfections and limitations, I thought he would somehow be different, but he wasn't. Despite not being completely fond of Jill through most of the game, by the end of the story I did quite like her, and seeing her run out of the infirmary after watching the red star's light fade really broke me, and seeing Gav having to discern Clive's death second hand wasn't any easier. Seeing Jill fall to her knees to hug Torgal was when I finally had to wipe my eyes, and accept it myself. It was a painful ending, but I don't think it would have impacted me as hard or effectively any other way. I will play it again and gather the remaining trophies when I'm ready, but for now it was easily one of the top single player gaming experiences I have ever had.
Fuck Quinten though. I hated that guy.
Favourite Fight: Bahamut
Favourite Eikon: Ifrit
Favourite Character: Dion
Visuals: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Combat: 9/10
World: 9/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Writing: 9/10
Voice Acting: 10/10
Pacing 7/10
Photo mode: 2/10 (what happened here?)
UX/UI: 9/10
2 Comments
i enjoyed reading your review!! despite not having played the game myself, it was clear just how much of an engaging experience this game was through your rants after each boss fight :3
smitt
9 months ago