So as of now I finished the game a day ago, and I just kinda want to sort out my feelings about it. Fair warning, this is my first review, so it might be messy

To start off I think FF16 is a very good game overall. I will admit though, my experience with Final Fantasy doesn't run very deep (I've only completed Crisis Core Reunion lol. I am currently in the middle of ff4, ff7, and ff15, all of which I like a lot)

When I first got the game, I was extremely hyped. The section of the story in Clive's "teens", so the beginning, really held well against the hype. Then, for his 20's and a good part of his 30's (the middle) it just kinda... hit a slump. I found myself questioning whether I truly liked the game or was I just tricked by pretty visuals? (wouldn't be the first time). Glad to say that I really enjoyed the end.

GENERAL COMMENTS:
--Finished this game in roughly 60 hours, so its not too long. For reference, I did all the side quests, collected all the scrolls for the orchestrion, and completed all the hunts.
--In hindsight, the story and worldbuilding are great. Almost no detail is left unaccounted for, and the story was what mostly kept me going.
--Characters and their writing are a mixed bag for me. Some characters are excellent (Cid, Gav), while others are... lacking? (Clive, Jill, Joshua, Dion, etc.) But on that point I would like to say that though these characters kinda felt flat to me at first, the more story I got with them the better and more alive they felt. So in the end, individually, the cast of characters are nothing special, but their relationships is what makes them lovable. I will say though, the villains were written very well
--Side quests range from boring (why do I have to pick flowers so many times) to almost tear--jerking (those two with Torgal and L'ubor... man). I'd say if you want to get to know the characters definitely do the side quests.
--Visuals are out of this world. Nothing bad to say on this front
--Music is wonderful as usual, my personal favorites being "No Risk, No Reward" and "Lovely, Dark, and Deep"
--Voice acting is top tier I don't think I could've asked for better

RANDOM NOTES:
--One of the main reasons I didn't vibe with ff16 for the middle is because it didn't feel like my previous experience with Final Fantasy (4, 7, and 15). I kinda felt it didn't live up to the titles I had played before. This though, changed quite drastically with the introduction of Barnabas, because after this the story and character interactions started feeling a lot like ff4 (my first game in the series, quite biased on that front). With this realization I started enjoying ff16 much more.
--I also felt that the team behind ff16 was definitely trying to appeal to western audiences more, so that definitely felt off-putting as well. Though when the eikon battles would commence and that music would kick in I was instantly reminded what I was playing (battles against Typhon and Titan were the first examples). Towards the end though the story fully embraces its Final Fantasy personality, which is why I'm quite fond of it.

SPOILER TERRITORY:
--Just a section to get my jittery energy out in
--Ok why do all my favorite characters die? Cid, then (at the very end) both Dion and Joshua?? Like Joshua's death needlessly hurt me.
--What I was saying earlier about how the characters here are defined by their relationships? Honestly I think that might be why I cried so hard with Joshua's death. Like I could FEEL myself losing the baby brother I never had when i had JUST been reunited with him. (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who feels this way about Joshua, call this insane ramblings but that made me very sad :'( )
--With other characters I honestly saw it coming from a mile away (Dion and Cid mostly). Still for Dion, who I really liked as a character, I felt bad. But for Cid, I honestly felt like I didn't spend enough time with him to feel bad.
--I really loved the way the villains were written. I genuinely hated some of them and wanted to see them destroyed (Hugo, Barnabas, and Ultima).