A great combat system, a handful of unforgettable sequences, strong character performances, and a stellar soundtrack hold up the rest of the game, which ranges from "fine" to "actively annoying". The story isn't anything new, there's a lot of busy work, the RPG elements are thin to the point of almost being nonexistent, the quests all feel like chores, the plot pacing is atrocious, and a ton of side characters are completely wasted.

Despite my gripes however, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a ton of fun playing it. It's because a lot of the stuff here is so good that the stuff that isn't feels so bad - this game is so close to being a masterpiece but falls short in a myriad of frustrating ways. FFXVI is a tale of extremely high highs surrounded by fairly low lows.