Final Fantasy XVI Review

Final Fantasy XVI
Publisher: Square Enix
Year: 2023
ESRB Rating:  M
Platform:  PlayStation
Genre: Action RPG

Fun Factor: 

    By far the most fun part of Final Fantasy 16 would have to be the combat. While initially, it might seem that enemies are not taking that much damage you soon come to find yourself wishing they had more health due to just how many different tools and ways that those tools can be used to take down enemies. While the boss battles are quite enjoyable there are also points in the game where the level that you are in starts to open up and let you explore and pick fights with many different creatures which will end up being something that immerses you into the game even further.

Learning Curve:
    Due to the fact that previous Final Fantasy titles were mostly turn-based combat and Final Fantasy 16 makes the leap into the action game genre, you would think that it would be difficult to get into but the game starts off by letting the player choose between Action Focused and Story Focused mode. This is what the developers decided to do instead of having the traditional game difficulties and the difference between the modes is that it starts the player off with certain accessories equipped that each have their own effect with some making combos as simple as pressing one button to slow down time right before you get hit to allow extra time for the player to dodge. These accessories can be added and removed at any time to adjust to each player's strengths and weaknesses. This allows for a variety of people to be able to start playing the game whether or not they are good at action games which makes this one of the easiest games to pick up and rewarding for mastering.
Graphics:  

    Games over time have gotten better and better when it comes to graphics and Final Fantasy 16 is no exception. Final Fantasy 16 was made strictly for the newest generation of hardware and is pushing that hardware to the max which in some cases is actually a detriment. While this game looks great it does make you choose in the beginning between a graphics and FPS mode with the graphics option running the game at 1440p/30FPS while the FPS mode will run the game at 1080p/60FPS. However, these are the targets that they are going for so when in the FPS mode there are times when you enter towns where the frames are not able to stay at a solid 60FPS which is pretty noticeable but combat and more open zones are able to reach that 60FPS target more often. Even in a lower-quality mode, Final Fantasy 16 is still one of the prettiest-looking games out right now.

Audio:
    Final Fantasy has always been known for having music that was a cut above the rest but the composer for the game Masayoshi Soken has really put his all into the music of the game and definitely puts it above the rest of the games coming out right now. Not only is the music a cut above the rest but the actual sound of the combat is extremely satisfying and plays a large role in making the combat feel as good as it does. Each attack and ability has a sound that makes the player feel like they are doing big damage or that did a perfect combo with an audio response that is designed in a way to make the player feel good.

Controls: 

    The controls of the game are fairly similar to other action games and are rather intuitive on the surface which allows for people to be able to pick up the game and play. Once you get further into the story you gain access to different Eikons which give different powers to the player and can be cycled through at any point. This introduces different load-outs that people can take with the different Eikons and their abilities and has the player start playing around the cooldowns of these abilities during combat. There is also the introduction of Torgal who is a character in the game that you can give commands to and works as a knock-up and combo ender which is all controlled on the D-pad of the PS5 controller. While at first, this may seem like a lot to take in each of these things are slowly introduced so as to not overwhelm the player so that by the time everything is there the player is already well versed in the combat.

Story: 

    Final Fantasy 16 takes place in the world of Valisthea which is shown from the point of view of the main character in the years 860,873, and 878 so far. The start of this game is very cinematic heavy which is meant to immerse people into the world and the story of these different nations that are all fighting over these things they call the "Mother Crystals" which most of the people need to be able to use things like magic. Each of the big nations has its own mother crystals in their control but some are being pushed out due to the "blight" which is a plague that is sweeping through the north killing all of the plant life and pushing all the animals and bigger monsters south to the cities. While this is all going on the player is experiencing the story of the main character Clive who at the start of the game, we see him lose his father and brother as their mother has teamed up with another nation to take combine the two nations into one and ends up enslaving Clive and forcing him to fight on the front lines. This all takes place in the first two hours of the game which is a fantastic hook and really immerses the players into the world of Valisthea and gets them invested into Clive's story.

Characters: 

    While Clive is the only playable character there are other AI-controlled party members that will join your party from time to time which include Jill who is a childhood friend of Clive's, Cid who is a person that helps Clive escape from the military and eventually becomes a mentor to him, and lastly Torgal who is a wolf pup that Clive had from his younger years. These characters all come together along with some other NPCs to help Clive lose the shell that he has built up from his years as a soldier. Clive, however, is the main character and the character that we spend the most time as well as the story shows different times in his life ranging from his teens, 20s, and 30s and so the game has an in-depth lore book where you can look back at each character that you have seen in the story with their descriptions changing and updating as the story progresses and it also shows what kind of relationship that Clive has with each character as well as where he knows them from. At the time of this review, it is still too early to give them a rating so far they have all been great.

Level Design:

    The level design for Final Fantasy 16 starts off by being fairly linear with the purpose of not trying to overwhelm the player with things like exploration and has them focus on the story and getting a good grasp of the combat system and how it works. However, this is not something that stays throughout the whole game as once the player has a grasp of the world and controls the game opens up into large zones that still allow for exploration as if the game was open world but doesn't have the usual problems that come with trying to make a game massively open world. This allows for the feeling of exploration but takes away the usual performance problems which is a perfect fit for this game as it lets you run around and pick fights with a bunch of different creatures that lets you have fun with the combat.

Changes: 
In terms of changes that I would make to the game, it would have to be the split performance mode and graphics mode. This is more of a nitpick since the developers can only work with the hardware that they are given but the lower frame rate sometimes really takes you out of the game. Another thing that I would've liked changed is the ability to turn off the motion blur in the game, as when you are in combat and there you are high in the air and dodge your whole screen ends up blurring making it harder to see any sort of attacks that you or your enemy are doing.

Recommendation: 
    Despite the changes that I would make I would still recommend this game to pretty much anybody as it definitely holds up to the history that the Final Fantasy series has. The music, combat, and story are some of the best in the business and with the added accessibility features that they added in it allows for pretty much anybody to jump in and enjoy everything that the game has to offer.