Final Fantasy XVI

[Wol]

Spoiler

After the absolute shitfest that was Bayonetta 3, I cannot stress how happy I am that FF16 delivers on the kaiju battles in the way that it does. Soooooo fucking cool.

Leaving Cid's camp is when it feels like the journey really starts for me. The game has settled into a cozy rhythm. I have to say, I haven't felt like I've played a Final Fantasy game that has felt like it has this kind of take off since PS2 era. The world feels properly lived in. This is something that deserves to be commended, I think!

I'm kind of surprised at how quickly plot elements are unraveling. I figured that the irony of Clive not knowing that he was the one who killed his brother would be drawn out and pay off much later in the story. Same with Joshua being the hooded guy, which was easy to predict. I figured both these revelations would be more climactic, given how the premise kinda hinges on that suspense. Hard to say anything about this yet until I know where this is all leading. I just beat nega-Clive/Ifrit and the beats of the story are feeling a little strange. It was cool and bombastic and all, but was like... he learned the truth several story missions ago? And despite being kinda sad about it, he was basically still going on doing what he was doing before the revelation. Idk man.

Cid is anarchist daddy. I think he might be the best Cid tbh.

Jill is like, the girl next door with no personality and little motivation. Her reaction to learning that Clive was responsible for killing Joshua and essentially ruining her live was amounted to a shrug, more or less. It was super weird. Maybe she'll become more intriguing as time goes on? Right now, she feels like an afterthought that's just sorta there to give Clive a love interest. I don't find their relationship romantic or heartwarming at all. I guess they have sexual tension that somewhat mimics regular people, which is kinda novel for this series.

Also idk, so far the lore is pretty easy to follow, despite a decent amount of jargon but... at this point Pheonix, Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Titan, Garuda, and Bahamut are all tied to central characters who all happen to have pre-existing relationship with one another. Is this just the case of all the important people happening to be within proximity to one another for the sake of convenience, or am I missing something here? I feel like a bit of exposition as to how these people came to be the way they are, and how they feel about it (other than Clive and maybe Joshua) could go a long way.

The combat has really grown on me and I am definitely liking it a lot more. I think its a very good foundation for a more robust system (that maybe includes controllable party members, status effects, buffs/debuffs etc). Despite not being turn based, the flow of battle has an almost turn based back-and-forth to it. Neat and cool!

The environments have a range which i think work right now. Most of it has been kinda generic fantasy looking landscapes, but when the art direction pops it really pops. Things seem to be opening up more slowly.

Spoiler: separating this out for more gameplay commentary

On side quests: I have seen complaints about them. Are they warranted? ehhh yeah, kinda. They arent great. I don't feel super stoked to be embarking on them. One thing that really bugs me is that I think it's a little silly that I have to select through a prompt to give the quest givers their shit when there's only one option.

Are they a step up compared to FF15? Undisputably. Are they better than FF7r? Honestly, yeah big time. I think the writing behind them is a lot more natural compared to FF7r, which I found largely very cringe. They do a decent job with situating Clive+Co as part of a living, breathing community that gives it that Final Fantasy oomf if you know what I mean. The narrative justification for them seems fine, and they try to make sure they flow in tandem with the main objectives. They also seem to come into clusters of a few at a time, and often laid out in a way so that it's convenient to knock through a couple at the same time. In that sense, they've been mostly inoffensive so far. That said, it still fails to address more structural issues.

The side quests structure of its game design philosophy has seemingly replaced any consideration for level/dungeon complexity and map exploration. You get to know the world by doing random crap for NPCs, instead of discovering little secrets in the geometry of the map. I mean you can, but unless I'm really missing something, the chests suck. The rhythm is that you do a few main story events, which then takes you to a new map, at which point the game offers some side quests to do before the next few story events. If you want to wander off the main path, the side quests are there to kinda tell you when to do that. They are delineated via map markers and priority lists, just like any other dime a dozen AAA video game. This isn't exactly a FF16 problem per se, it's more an issue of big budget games recycling trends which lead them all to feeling the same. This maybe more of a western prestige thing that FF16 maybe chasing? Either way it's super lame, but not anything I didn't expect from the trailers or gameplay footage.

As a whole I'd say the side quests structure is a cut above the rest of the entries preceeding it (going by FF7r and FF15 here). Maybe it's nostalgia but I felt like my favourites in the series were more mold breaking and doing their own thing. FF16 feels like it's completely in complete lock-step with the trends of the rest of the market, some of which are off putting, ya know?

Either way I'm finally properly into the game. I guess I'll have more final thoughts when I'm nearer the end. Sneaking into Oriflamme via some mines right now.

About the sidequests and Cid being Best Cid, totally agree. They stand out for the amount of world-building and character development and they progressively get better. The last ones I'm doing are either revealing revelant lore, opening inaccessibile areas or showing truly touching scenes between characters.

I highly reccomend doing Vivian's Inconvenient Truth quest, if one really wants to blur what they understood about Bearers and how the slavery system came to be. The Undying II has you visit a village of cult members.

All the secondary NPCs (Gav, Otto, Tarja, Jote, Gaute, Charon, Martha, Wade, Blackthorne, Harpocrates, Goetz, Nektar, Isabella, Quinton, L'ubor, etc) have their own stories and you really get a sense of family and community. The fact I can easily remember all these names shows how the game didn't simply throw a bunch of people to fill out space. Might be the strongest side-cast of the franchise.

Edit: The attention to detail also extends for field npcs, their dialogues get regularly updated to reflect important story events.

 

[Lex]

According to a certain insider I know

Spoiler

Clive is dead, Joshua lived. He didn't mention Dion.

This would go against absolutely everything in the lore and what they set up in quests beforehand so it's a nah from me fam, "insider" be damned lmao

 

[Jimmy XH]

I’ve messed it up. I’m at 92% and didn’t finish it before I went back home for five days. Currently in the airport questioning my decision making.

I’ve clocked up 36hrs without really going too far into sidequests. I’ve done no hunts either. That speaks to the replayability of this game that I will 100% be going back and experiencing everything it has to offer.

Sure I have gripes, probably much the same as everyone else, but the truth is that this has been a terrific adventure. A real success story for SE.

Also I’m not very good at it yet. More Game Over screens than when I tried to beat Lee Chaolan on Tekken back in the day.

 

[Strangelove]

Spoiler: i am not going into specific detail just general vibes

if i have to save the world i don’t know if i can muster the will as i walk around and a whole bunch of these random towns people are being bigots. some of y’all i won’t care if your villages got burned down, let me do it myself

anyway it makes me happy when you’re walking around and hear torgal’s little footsteps pattering behind you

 

[Tetsujin]

Spoiler: i am not going into specific detail just general vibes

if i have to save the world i don’t know if i can muster the will as i walk around and a whole bunch of these random towns people are being bigots. some of y’all i won’t care if your villages got burned down, let me do it myself

anyway it makes me happy when you’re walking around and hear torgal’s little footsteps pattering behind you

Spoiler

I see you have been to Sanbreque then

not that other places are that much better but the people of Sanbreque and that one village in particular can really eat an entire barrel of dicks

 

[Wol]

Endgame Jill spoilers

Spoiler

I gotta say that they nailed Clive x Jill romantic scenes, despite her feeling underused. Just finished her final sidequest, and that scene was so natural and endearing in both writing and delivery that I got teared up. Something really hard to see in a JRPG, romantic moments that aren't cringy.

And if I knew both Joshua and Jill would become permament allies after completing their quests, I would have done them way sooner. Fuck, that was an excellent reward.

Now I'm ready for the final boss, clocking up almost 100 hours.

 

[looneymoon]

Spoiler: i am not going into specific detail just general vibes

if i have to save the world i don’t know if i can muster the will as i walk around and a whole bunch of these random towns people are being bigots. some of y’all i won’t care if your villages got burned down, let me do it myself

anyway it makes me happy when you’re walking around and hear torgal’s little footsteps pattering behind you

Spoiler

I laughed when I did that one SQ where Clive makes that little girl cry.

"She isn't a dog she's dead" lmfaoooo

Dumbass kid

 

[Wol]

That was an epic, beautiful and heart-gripping ending.

I'm just in tears.

Congrats to CBD3 for their first AAA title, you guys nailed it.

Will share my full thoughts about the game another time, but this is top 5 FF for me.

 

[Tetsujin]

Just finished "Through the Maelstrom"

Spoiler

Was sweating during the DPS check with Barnabas but when the actual countdown started and I wasn't even halfway through the bar I was like "oh this is scripted to be unwinnable then, I can relax"

"Clive Bested"

yeah ok, rub it in game!

Knowing we will eventually get Shiva's powers had me worried what might happen to Jill.
That it would happen in such an intimate scene is not what I expected! Finally, they fucking kissed. And then they kissing fucked, but we don't get to see that I guess.
This is why VII Remake needs that higher rating though, let Cloud and Tifa be naked under the Highwind dammit

Done quite a few sidequests and hunts inbetween as well. Am now at 86% completion at over 50h playtime (according to the PS5 menu timer, which has been inaccurate in the past though and I don't understand why we don't have in-game timers on our save files, hello??)

 

[Lulcielid]

Patch 1.03 update

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676762372462235648

More control presets but not custom remapping? Lame.

 

[cold_spirit]

Been spending some time in the training area. Clive's magic burst and Torgal commands are very similar to Nero's exceed and buster knuckle from DMC5, so getting into the groove was like riding a bike.

Here I'm trying to master Clive's basic abilities. No Eikon feats, just the fundamentals. Definitely suggest control layout C for easier magic bursts. Torgal is great for eliminating or reducing knockback, allowing for quick follow-ups. The training area has great features to help learn the timing for these.

 

[Leafonthebreeze]

Patch 1.03 update

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1676762372462235648

More control presets but not custom remapping? Lame.

Oh thank god I can turn down the motion blur, it makes my eyes/head go weird.

Not gonna get to play again until next week now though, cos I'm out tonight and then away Friday to Monday. All fun stuff, but I'll be missing my good buddy Clive.

 

[looneymoon]

Spoiler

Jill did something finally but I didn't really get any sense of payoff from it tbh. I'm more interested in what Martha the Inn Keeper is up to than actual important people.

It's a shame because I feel like everything at Ironholm is cool conceptually, but should have felt a whole lot more cathartic than it was?

Can't say I have any qualms with what the story is, but holy moly the plotting/sequence of events is just kind of bizarre.

Also I think Ultima might be a space alien

 

[cold_spirit]

I made a thread for ending impressions. That's also where you can read mine. Open spoilers. I don't know, felt like some separation might be good.

Other than that, my hottest XVI take is that I prefer Clive's imperial armor over his default / cover art look. I mean the corset is great, but the rest of the armor is too bulky and pointy. I like how his imperial look is more grounded. Ahhh, at least I can still see it in the ability videos.

 

[ForceStealer]

Spoiler: events in Twinside

Well...given that the mothercrystal would seem to have spent a few decades' worth of aether in buffing up Bahamut, I'm not sure we really came out ahead on this particular operation
FFIX vibes on his initial rampage, though.

While the eikon fights have definitely improved from the start of the game, they still have a habit of really dragging out one or more segments. Like in the big Titan fight, there's no reason the bit where you're on one of the land tentacles dodging his one hand should have lasted that long. When you get your first stagger and do maybe a quarter-health bar it's a little . And similarly with Bahamut, the absolutely epic and spectacular segments don't need to whittle his health down so slowly. When I'm not in any danger of dying, and I've already seen all the spectacle attached to this phase, get on with it Typhon might still be my favorite, tightest eikon fight so far.
To play, anyway. Don't think I'm denying the epicness on display of the Bahamut fight. I especially liked that Phoenix would join in on your battle skills. The first time it happened I thought I had just timed something very well, lol, but still, when I first used the long fire-breathing skill on a staggered Bahamut and Ifrit and Phoenix were just roasting him together for an extended period was pretty badass. I am forced to wonder how Odin even managed to hold Bahamut to a stalemate, given that it took two eikons Gurren Lagann-ing it into submission

I'm glad they properly reunited Clive and Joshua instead continuing to drag out the ships-in-the-night thing, haha. Very nice scene, and hurray for Anabella's comeuppance. I'm glad we didn't contrive some way to turn her into a boss fight like making her akashic or something, haha.
But, yeah, Joshua sealing Ultima inside his heart or whatever sure doesn't seem to impede Ultima from doing whatever he wants to do, huh? (Though it did make me thing merging their eikons seemed risky, haha)

Kind of a bummer how this game keeps destroying every major city so we can never explore one...haha.

The extra control schemes are nice, I've been using C because I like my magic being up on L1, but now F is just like that except it swaps dodge down to O like it should have always been Managed to change to it for this dungeon without getting too confused (I kept it on Titan so that even if I hit R1 by accident that would at least be blocking)

 

[Strangelove]

Spoiler

I laughed when I did that one SQ where Clive makes that little girl cry.

"She isn't a dog she's dead" lmfaoooo

Dumbass kid

Spoiler

at least she learnt her lesson. i did that one after the other one nearby with the noble and his horrible child. i was so happy when they got mauled by monsters, see you in hell you little shits.

i have just gotten the first(? will there be more) message about how proceeding will be a big story event and i won't be able to go back for a while, but i gotta say

Spoiler

why are there sex noises in my final fantasy game. i was just talking to a moogle an hour ago, you can't do this to me

 

[Wol]

FFXVI DLC is being considered and Yoshida pretty much confirms other updates coming. Also comments about Metacritic a bit.

Game earned the right to have them IMO.

 

[Makoeyes987]

The game deserves all its praise and more.

I can't wait for more to come, whatever it is!

....Holy shit at that similarity with Shadow I never even thought of. ROTFLMAO, that's so funny.

And yeah, I totally caught that reference to FFXIV's Red Chocobos with Dread Comet. That hunt actually was a pain in the ass too

 

[Tetsujin]

I'm around 92% in

Spoiler

Ohh, that FF1 main theme arrangement when Joshua looks at the mural.

Also, finally acknowledgement of Leviathan...however as a "lost one"
Wonder what the story for that is, maybe it'll be in the lore thing. Guess we can rule out a late surprise appearance this far into the game then.

Barnabas fight, whew. That one was quite long. I actually failed the Zantetsuken DPS check. Just as well, because it lets you restart with restocked potions and shit and I was really running low lmao
If I hadn't died to that, I would've likely died from being unable to heal eventually.

 

[looneymoon]

Spoiler

I'm genuinely kinda baffled at some of these game design choices.

First off, while I like the battle system, the game is like... weirdly easy. I'm playing the regular/action mode, and have had the assist rings unequipped since the prologue. I am assuming hard mode is balanced for NG+ with all the gear unlocks and such. Well, even if that's the case, they really need to reconsider their approach to balancing.

It doesn't help that all the side missions are designed the way they are. They're all fetch quests. They are well written for what they are trying to achieve, but there isn't a sense of challenge to them either because you're essentially just checking boxes off a list. There is never a puzzle or something that really requires any brain work to get through them.

So, the boss fights pop off with their sense of scale and spectacle, but they too are not a challenge at all. The only game over/continue screen I had (up until the 70% mark) was when I was fucking around on the field trying to see how the parry worked.

Where I'm at now I have unlocked S rank hunts, which seem promising. I find the guy, and he's tough, and actually challenging! I'm so happy that I now have to now lean forwaed on the couch while playing this. I die, which is fine because I expected to...

And the game spawns me back at a far away checkpoint thing instead of outside the boss arena.

Now, this wouldn't be an issue if it was some sorta Souls-esque thing where part of the challenge is crossing the level to get to the boss. The path is just a long way you have to run across to get there.

I feel like the game is now actively discouraging me for wanting to do this challenging bit now? and I'm pretty sure I can do it if I practised a few times, but game is telling me no. I am now just going back onto the main path because I'm like, fuck it... I'll just come back when I can just kick his ass like I have every other boss so far, since that's what the game seems to want me to do. Which is the exact opposite of what I want to do but the set up is making it really annoying.

This may seem like an insane nitpick I'm just frustrated at the lack of accomplishment I'm getting here from the difficulty.

 

[Wol]

Spoiler

I'm genuinely kinda baffled at some of these game design choices.

First off, while I like the battle system, the game is like... weirdly easy. I'm playing the regular/action mode, and have had the assist rings unequipped since the prologue. I am assuming hard mode is balanced for NG+ with all the gear unlocks and such. Well, even if that's the case, they really need to reconsider their approach to balancing.

It doesn't help that all the side missions are designed the way they are. They're all fetch quests. They are well written for what they are trying to achieve, but there isn't a sense of challenge to them either because you're essentially just checking boxes off a list. There is never a puzzle or something that really requires any brain work to get through them.

So, the boss fights pop off with their sense of scale and spectacle, but they too are not a challenge at all. The only game over/continue screen I had (up until the 70% mark) was when I was fucking around on the field trying to see how the parry worked.

Where I'm at now I have unlocked S rank hunts, which seem promising. I find the guy, and he's tough, and actually challenging! I'm so happy that I now have to now lean forwaed on the couch while playing this. I die, which is fine because I expected to...

And the game spawns me back at a far away checkpoint thing instead of outside the boss arena.

Now, this wouldn't be an issue if it was some sorta Souls-esque thing where part of the challenge is crossing the level to get to the boss. The path is just a long way you have to run across to get there.

I feel like the game is now actively discouraging me for wanting to do this challenging bit now? and I'm pretty sure I can do it if I practised a few times, but game is telling me no. I am now just going back onto the main path because I'm like, fuck it... I'll just come back when I can just kick his ass like I have every other boss so far, since that's what the game seems to want me to do. Which is the exact opposite of what I want to do but the set up is making it really annoying.

This may seem like an insane nitpick I'm just frustrated at the lack of accomplishment I'm getting here from the difficulty.

That's my major issue with the game. And adding to that, they even fully restock curatives if you die (whoever asked you!?). It's insulting lol.

Not wanting to overwhelm new players because this is the first true action FF doesn't make sense, FF has been slighty going action since Lightning Returns and nothing justifies not having Hard Mode available from the start if that's really an issue.

Edit: and there are already optional acessories available to help those players...

 

[Strangelove]

has someone made a 'dilf' joke before

dominant i'd like to fuck

i'm talking about cid

i finally played the big pivotal story section with the warning message before starting the mission and ngl

Spoiler

i'm hoping there aren't any more big status quo changes like this with big jumps in time. let this be the default from now on so i don't have to get used to any more major adjustments

also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again

also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?

i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this

i feel like i tend to stick to a set pattern of moves in combat, but i don't know if i can put that down to the game or myself. i tend to find some moves i'm comfortable with and not branch out too much, that's how i've played devil may cry 5 as well

 

[Wol]

Here's my final thoughts about XVI

Spoiler: Endgame spoilers

Story 9

+ Great, well-written and relatable characters, even NPCs receive special treatment. I found that the ending segment elevated the plot even higher.

+ Presentation and voice-acting are top-notch.

+ Attention to detail with solid world-building and lore through major cutscenes and sidequests.

- Pacing has issues during the "down" parts. I can see how someone would lose interest if they still aren't invested in the game, mostly because the gameplay offers little outside combat to entertain.


What would I have liked to see more/changed:

- Party banter was so non-existant that sometimes I forgot I had someone accompanying me.

- Loved Benedikta everytime she appeared on screen, but I feel the game didn't give me enough material to fully sympathize with her internal struggles, which is a shame.

- Hugo's motivation and development were dissapointing, expected much more from him. He appeared much more controlled and intimidating on the first scenes.

- Jill had plenty of opportunities to shine given the amount of screentime but, save for a few moments (which really moved me), she didn't.



Gameplay 8


+ FF's most polished action battle system, super engaging and offers a good amount of build variety.

+ Bosses and hunts can be very agressive with well-designed movesets.

+ The setpieces are one of the best in the industry.

+ On the exploration front: Decently-sized areas, plenty of outposts and towns with many NPCs to discover.



- The potential of the combat and spectacle is diminished by how easy it is.

- Battles become simplistic with a fairly straighforward flow.

- Low replay value. No mini-games or much optional content outside sidequests.

- Sidequests are very archaic in design.



How I would fix them:

- Make Hard Mode available from the start or amp the difficulty on Normal.

- Needed more mechanics to spice things up, such as (but not necessarily): buffs/debuffs, breaking enemy parts, Aetherfloods slowly draining HP, dual combos with guest characters and Torgal, different stagger conditions based on enemy-type, weapons having special attributes, and so on.

- Quests with branching paths and multiple dialogue choices could have gone a long way to engage the player.

- Add minigames to diversify activities. A card game is played in Valisthea, so no reason to not have one. Torgal sniffing around to dig items on the ground. Anything.



Music and Sound 10


+ Absolutely incredible and one of my favorite from the series. Some dungeon tracks sounded a bit generic but the vast majority is high-quality, which is to be expected given the composer behind it. The otherwordly and ethereal tracks were stellar. Rich sound effects.


- They had the audacity to not include the Awakening trailer theme. Bastards.


My Final score: 9

FFXVI got close to be fantastic but a few shortcomings prevented that.

Spoiler: General thoughts (+spoilers)

DLC and update wishes? Many of them.

There are some misteries and obvious DLC hooks: Leviathan the Lost, the Shimmering Isle, the gate at Dim (supposedly leading to a Fallen tower?) and the crystallized wave you see at Royal Meadows. No Lore entry mentions the last two, as far as I know.
Additional story centered on Cid and Benedikta's past
Playable characters
Option to choose party members
A mini-game.
More Hunts superbosses
Eikon Arena mode for the Arete Stone



Best cutscenes / segments

The entire Phoenix Gate prologue
Oriflamme Drake's Head
Bahamut setpiece and Dion's descent into madness after killing his father
First duel between Clive and Barnabas in Kanver
Through the Maelstrom
Clive x Jill romantic scenes
Ending (Origin, Final Battle, Ending cutscene)

Favorite OSTs

Away
Into The Mire - Stillwind
The Lion and the Hare
My Lady
Sixteen Bells
Gathering Clouds
Control - Garuda's Theme
Sever
The Riddle - Odin's Theme
Bahamut's Theme
Find the Flame
The Hideaway and variations
Sorrow's Faded Form
Where the Heart Is
To Sail Forbidden Seas
Histoire - The Holy Empire of Sanbreque and variations (post-darkened sky arr.)
Lovely, Deep and Dark
Reflections (Drake's Head)
Typhoon Phase 1 and 3
In the Light of the Mothercrystal
Titan Phase 2 and 3
Bow - Interdimensional Rift
Ultimalius Theme
My Star

Favorite characters (no particular order)

Clive
Benedikta
Dion
Barnabas
Cid


What XVI excels compared to other FF entries

Best Cid
Best Odin
Best setpieces
Best NPC development
Best Lore Presentation
Most polished Action battle system


How should FF proceed to achieve universal greatness?

Constantly changing teams and reinventing the wheel each entry doesn't lead to a consistent output. Stick to a formula and perfect it, leave bigger changes for new gen's first entries. FFXVI is a great and solid foundation to build upon.

------------------

Spoiler: Quote with spoiler

i'm hoping there aren't any more big status quo changes like this with big jumps in time. let this be the default from now on so i don't have to get used to any more major adjustments

also when you destroy the mother crystal core and that portal appears and those creepy hands pop out i was like, oh what's going on here. and then this big sunken eyed, greasy looking emo with curtains appears. i thought i was looking at my teenage self again

also getting some ivalice vibes sometimes. the world name reminds me of that, there's an altema showing up, typhon kind of reminds me of the last boss of ffxii, they're doing that thing where they recite spells like in fft or vagrant story, some costumes like gav(? gab? gabu?) give me fft flashbacks, and i think the duke's kidnapped son in vagrant story was also called joshua?

i am mere steps away from replaying vagrant story now because of this

LMFAO

 

[ForceStealer]

 

[Jimmy XH]

Much the same thoughts as you @Wol having finished this evening. I’ve tried to be brief…

Spoiler: “Brief” finished the game thoughts and spoilers

It’s great. It’s terrific. But it’s not perfect. 9 is about right for me.

That said, I have not completed it 100% by any stretch. Thus a second run for me is inevitable now that I know a bit more about what I’m doing.

Story is fantastic. An engaging world with relatable characters from top to bottom. Engrossing and emotive. I really want to dig into more of what the world and lore offers and certainly have a thirst for DLC, backstory and whatever else can be thrown at me.

Voice acting a country mile ahead of anything Final Fantasy have ever offered. Writing top-notch and brilliantly delivered by more or less all characters.

Clive is superb. No other word for it. Cid and Gav are great companions and provide some happy comic relief without it being too corny. Benedikta had a huge amount of potential in my view, a shame she had to go so early after her meltdown. Ultima is a chilling villain. Dion under-utilised also but is great when he is used. I do like Jill you know. Her story was very good, but not great, however there’s just something about her I really enjoyed (not that scene!!!). Hugo something of a non-entity in his arc…

I did love the numerous nods to previous FF titles and the series.

Gameplay largely excellent. Battle system does become a bit samey and you can find a strategy that works most if not all of the time. I did not find the game easy, but it wasn’t hard either. At no point did I think I had to go and grind to be stronger and it did offer a little too much help if you wanted to just get through the story. I get it, and I had more than my fair share of game overs, but it is not difficult by any stretch.

That said, there is so much I haven’t discovered yet, nor was I utilising Clive as best as I could have been, so this enhances replayability for me. I thought the other characters in battle could’ve done more to add to the theatre. They’re just there, not contributing much in battle from what I could see.

Eikon battles I thought were unbelievable. They were epic set pieces with so many things going on. A feast for the eyes and ears. All different, too. The fight against Titan stood out for me, I could not believe that I was playing a video game throughout it. Just incredible.

I appreciated some of the downtime early on after a frantic start but the game really does take its foot off the gas at times. The sidequests I did I found were largely repetitive and unimaginative. Fetch this, fight that. Though there was some good world building elements if you were willing to find them. I have plenty more to complete but I can’t see myself enjoying them as much as I did the story elements.

Music is stellar. So many standout tracks. Having just played it, the start of the ultima battle theme is just haunting my head. But there are so many other memorable, standout tracks throughout. I don’t think I’m doing it justice in such a brief summary.

FFXVI will firmly sit in the higher end of the FF games I have played. It hits some of the highest gaming highs I’ve ever experienced, and really pushes the benchmark of what video games can be. No it isn’t perfect, but it is a huge triumph nonetheless.

I can’t wait to have another go and explore what more there is to offer.