An Eikonic entry for a colossal franchise.
★★★★1/2
Introduction
It has been almost a month since I rolled credits on the latest entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. Yet, here I am writing a review... why? Final Fantasy XVI's ending (don't worry, no spoilers here just emotions) is heavy. It is one of those endings which left me staring at the credits screen as my mind came to grips with the finale of such a long journey in this rich world. I was thinking back to the world, the music, the characters, and the gameplay. In that moment and in the days after, I was very high on the game overall. But, I did not feel quite ready to put those thoughts in writing. So, I decided to give myself some breathing room, come back to my keyboard when I had enough distance from that emotion to truly reflect on this game and give final thoughts.
Here we are almost a month later and I am finally putting my thoughts down on digital paper. The conclusion I have come to after a great deal of distance away is not all that different from my initial thoughts after rolling credits. Final Fantasy XVI is a triumph in so many ways. From the graphical fidelity, to the world, the soundtrack, characters, and gameplay, everything melds together to create a truly blockbuster experience that not only shows grand spectacle but also wears its heart on its sleeve in such a way to make each explosive eye-catching moment have true emotional and impactful meaning. It comes with some caveats and flaws as all games do. However, the flaws can be quickly lost in one's memory as the sheer epic scale of this game shrouds those blemishes.
A Beautiful, Vibrant, Gritty Fantasy
Every great Final Fantasy needs an incredible world to live inside. A place unique, a place with an identity. We see this shine through in past entries in the franchise. Final Fantasy VII has arguably the most iconic of them all with its cool blend of steampunk, science-fiction, and fantasy elements mixed into one. Final Fantasy X is another that comes to mind with its emphasis on island atmosphere, desert oases, and grand religious temples. I would place Final Fantasy XVI right up there with them as an iconic and incredible world. It tows a line between fantasy and pure medieval Europe in such a way that makes every location, enemy, and character design seem fantastical enough to know you are exploring a place of magic and wonder, but grounded, dirty, and gritty enough to be a reflection of the dreary Middle Ages. The game has often been compared directly to Game of Thrones in more ways than one. While I do not fully agree that they are one-to-one comparisons, especially in story and character, I can't deny that this game's world fits the bill perfectly. This is not even to mention the interconnected struggles between rival peoples and kingdoms that you meet and explore throughout the game. A complex web of relationships and history which could be easy to get lost in, as it often is in Game of Thrones, but that always guides you through easily thanks to the new Active Time Lore feature and a special NPC who can outright lecture you on what is going on in the world at the time.
Any screenshot from this game would clue you to the fact that Final Fantasy XVI is a stunner. Honestly, the screenshots don't do it justice. When exploring the world or taking on hordes of enemies in certain encounters, the game consistently looks visually stunning and easily one of the best looking games ever made. It truly shows the power of the next-gen hardware. I preferred playing in performance mode, as I often do especially with action-based games such as this one where precision and a few frames can mean the difference between a dodge and a massive damage hit, yet even in this mode the game consistently blew me away with its stunning vistas, detailed textures, and vibrant colors.
The soundtrack is nailed in a way that only one like Masayoshi Soken, the composer of Final Fantasy XVI and the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, can do. The atmosphere is knocked out of the park with each musical piece fitting locales and scenes perfectly to completely immerse you in whatever mood the game is attempting to convey. The massive and grand spectacle scenes shown during eikon battles are accompanied by epic and bellowing musical pieces which will have you adding them to your playlists for years to come. This is easily the best soundtrack to come from a video game this year and rivals the best of all time.
A New Direction
Gameplay seems to be the defining and dividing factor surrounding conversation of this game. Final Fantasy is well-known for its turn-based ATB battle system which has been used and refined since the original all the way back in 1987. Times change, however, and though I am still a huge fan and proponent of turn-based games and see how they can still evolve in the modern day--see: Persona 5, Divinity: Original Sin 2, among others--it seems Square Enix wants to take the franchise in a different direction. Final Fantasy XV was the first example of this, followed by Final Fantasy VII: Remake which adapted elements of the classic ATB battle system but still implemented it in an action RPG system. Final Fantasy XVI is the next step, fully embracing an action style many have compared to the likes of Capcom’s Devil May Cry. While I do understand those who miss the classic turn-based system, I can’t deny that there is something so exciting, thrilling, and engaging about action RPGs that appeal to wider audiences.
Final Fantasy XVI’s combat has been mostly compared directly with Devil May Cry, and while I agree there are similarities, I think there are huge differences which make Final Fantasy XVI’s combat purely its own style. Devil May Cry is known for the extreme speed, combo-heavy attacks, quick and successive attacks, and unabashed style. Final Fantasy XVI is much more grounded and methodical in comparison. While you can do some insane combos and ridiculous damage in Final Fantasy XVI, it is not typical and requires some fine tuning, practice, and a good mind for the systems. This is not to say that Final Fantasy XVI’s combat is worse in any way, just different. Once you get a chunk of hours in and start unlocking new abilities and begin experimenting with different combinations of them, you discover that the combat has a great deal of freedom in how you execute encounters and how you build your specific Clive’s loadout.
Each combat encounter is fun, thrilling, and engaging. When I saw powerful looking enemies, no matter if they were in a giant horde or a singular threatening looking boss, I was also excited to jump into the fray and slash my way through the battlefield. Combat is smooth, has great feeling when connecting moves, and has just enough complexity as you keep up with cool downs, dodge enemy attacks, and execute your own combos, that it never really got old. The only downside to this would be in difficulty. I found the game fairly easy even with a very basic loadout on Clive. You get ample healing items, attacks are fairly telegraphed for the most part, and your damage output always feels good enough for whatever encounter you tackled so long as you kept up with your equipment. I died perhaps twice the entire playthrough and this was for completely optional fights, one of which had an unfortunate one-hit kill move I was just not aware of. Granted, difficulty varies from person to person so this is just a personal note.
The second part of the game to get the most controversy is the RPG systems or, as some would claim, the lack thereof. I will say upfront that I truly believe that Final Fantasy XVI is a Final Fantasy and RPG through and through. Games have been implementing RPG systems for many years now with titles like God of War: Ragnarok and even Halo: Infinite, game series which were not really known for their RPG systems, implementing them in essential ways. But, Final Fantasy XVI is still deeper than these titles. It is not as surface level as some claim. It certainly can be if you simply take the most basic loadout you can find, get comfortable with it, and never swap off of it or experiment. Perhaps that is a flaw in the game itself. As I mentioned previously, the game never really forced me to swap around my build due to difficulty or even something as simple as elemental damage being more or less effective against certain enemies. Instead, I believe this game relies on its spectacle to encourage players to experiment with new abilities. You get to see them first-hand most of the time and can view them in the abilities menu thanks to a handy video which showcases each ability in action. I believe the game is hoping players will see these abilities, associate them with specific moments in the story, and try them out on that basis alone. Is this the best method of encouraging player experimentation? Perhaps, perhaps not, your mileage will vary.
However, there is one glaring element in the moment-to-moment gameplay of Final Fantasy XVI that is screaming for more depth, crafting. As you explore the world of Valisthea you will come across shining lights on the ground which represent items you can pick up by simply moving near them. These can be anything from potions to accessories, but more often than not it will be some sort of crafting material. The unfortunate part about this is that often they really didn’t matter. The most important things to craft in this game are armor and weapons. Yet, you’re almost never required to actually pay attention to what materials are needed, which ones are rarer, which ones you may want to go out of your way for in order to get the best equipment. Just doing some basic exploring and progression throughout the story gives you all you will need to keep Clive in a reasonable stat range for the next section of the game. There are stronger weapons and armor you can craft by doing certain side activities, and while the numbers do certainly go up in the menu screen, it never seemed like enough of a boost to feel worth it even by the end of the game when I had the best armor and weapon possible. The best kinds of crafting systems are ones in which you’re given a lot of options, need to plan out what kind of build you desire, and take note (mentally or physically) of what rare materials to keep an eye out for. Unfortunately, this is not one of those systems, making the crafting feel very tacked on.
Another point of improvement is in the RPG staple, side quests. There are plenty of side quests and a lot of variety in Final Fantasy XVI. Anything from helping a chef cook a new meal to taking important characters on life changing journeys. However, the execution of them leaves much to be desired. There is seldom a side quest that does not boil down to: Talk to a character, go to a place, kill some enemies, return. Very rarely, you might go to two places, or might fight two encounters of enemies, oh joy! Maybe you will be sent on a gathering mission to pick three flowers instead! How thrilling! The stories they can tell are often spectacular, but the actual process of completing them often felt like a chore.
The Emotional Connection
At the end of the day, no matter how vast, beautiful, and scenic the world is, no matter how deep its lore, no matter how great the soundtrack or fluid the combat, none of it would matter if the people you are interacting with and spending your time dealing with in a Final Fantasy game were dull, boring, and uninspired. Previously, I mentioned how Final Fantasy XVI often gets compared to Game of Thrones in its world design and even atmosphere. I partially agreed, but countered by explaining that this game wears its heart on its sleeve. The characters and story are where this occurs and these are the elements which really take this game to such a high level. Characters in Final Fantasy XVI, as with any great Final Fantasy game, are memorable, charming, complex, evolving, and the undisputed best part of the game. Every character from Clive himself to side characters like Cid, Jill, Dion, and--my absolute favorite--Gav, all have full developing storylines, character arcs, and distinctive personalities that you can latch onto and enjoy. Any time I saw one of these characters on screen or even with a side quest, I was anxious to see what would unfold and how their character would develop as the story progressed forward. It is this reason why the story, as grand and epic in scale as it is, still felt grounded. As typical with Final Fantasy titles, the story heads places that may boggle the mind or reach levels of extreme grandeur and scale, but the attachment I held to these characters and to this world they lived in was so strong that it made the world-level events occurring actually matter.
The most advertised aspect of this title was the massive, larger-than-life, gorgeous eikon battles which you undertake over the course of the game. During previews it seemed as though these might become the weakest part of the game, being basic glorified cutscenes with rudimentary fight scenes and QTE sections. However, the more eikon fights you encounter the more complex they become, keeping it fresh by giving you more abilities to toy with. On top of that, you would think after seeing a few eikon fights, that the spectacle would become old or tiresome. This could not be further from the truth. Every single eikon fight is a grand finale to itself. These battles could legitimately be the final boss or ending climax to any other video game by themselves, and yet in Final Fantasy XVI they are just one of many. They always found a way to increase the scale, the scope, and--most importantly--the stakes of each battle. Again, as mentioned before, the heart of the game is in its characters. The eikon fights are reflections of the characters, their emotional struggles, and their resolutions in the form of massive monster battles that would give Godzilla a run for his money. These fights would mean nothing if they were just big monster battles with no heart or soul. Because each of these fights involves characters who we care about, or even perhaps hate, because each of these fights is a conflict of not only physical nature but mental and emotional nature, because each of these fights serves not only to push the plot forward but also to further the story of the characters themselves, they become special.
The Final Fantasy Conclusion
Final Fantasy XVI is a triumph of a video game. Its vast, beautiful world, its unmatched soundtrack, its fluid and thrilling combat, its incredible scale and epic spectacle, and its engaging and emotional story, come together into one amazing package that Square Enix can be proud of. Is it the turn-based, extremely complex, classic Final Fantasy experience some fans may have wanted? No. But, we knew that going in and we’ve seen the trend since 2016. What it is instead, is a massive accomplishment which will bring in new players and enrapture veterans who embrace the changes that the series is going through. By the time credits roll, I was not thinking about if this was a “true” Final Fantasy or if this was a “real” RPG. I was thinking about the world and the characters who I came to adore so much and how I longed to continue the journey just a bit more. It is uncertain where the franchise will go from here, if they will return to their roots or if they will continue to expand upon the action elements brought about in this game. One thing is for certain, I will be remembering Final Fantasy XVI for many years to come and I fully expect it to become another tent-pole entry in this long running franchise alongside the likes of Final Fantasy XVI, VII, and X.