Vidjama Gmaes Work

Final Fantasy XVI is a himbo of a video game. It’s very pretty to look at but there’s not much going on in the head department. Which isn’t to say it’s not fun to play around with for a few hours. Or fifty or so.

Final Fantasy XVI takes place in the world of Valisthea, a place where shit kinda sucks. The land is dying, the magical aether that people rely on for their centuries of bountiful prosperity is going away, and they’re kinda taking it out on these people called Bearers. Bearers are the slave class in Valisthea and main character Clive happens to be one of them. Dominants are people able to summon powerful eikons, meaning while some places in the world revere their dominants as gods on earth effectively, others enslave them to fight their wars. The eikons are here because big monsters are cool, and it wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy game without big fights against recognizable characters.

This is a lot of game. I got over 40 hours out of it and toward the end of the game just started ignoring all the side quests because I was ready to be done. Not because I didn’t like the game, just because I was utterly exhausted and wanted to return the disc to Gamefly. If I wasn’t on a self-imposed timer I probably would’ve stuck through and beaten all the side quests. There are 76 side quests and 32 marked targets, among other activities in FFXVI. This is a beefy game.

One thing I will say both in this game’s favor and against it is that it is not difficult. Half the boss fights ended with me not using more than maybe one or two regular potions right up until the end of the game where I actually scored a couple of game overs against the penultimate and final boss. Around the last 10% the boss fights transition into such a brain-fuck of flashing lights and colors that it becomes just about impossible to actually tell where you and your enemy are on the map half the time. Which is when it becomes “difficult.”

And I use difficult in quotes because I don’t consider this genuine difficulty. It’s basically just tedium wrapped in hitting the dodge button. And the game also doesn’t pretend that challenge is the goal because of how it handles boss fights. You might go into a boss fight with a full set of potions and use most of them by the time the boss has hit their 30% cutscene. Let’s say you lose, the game sticks you at the boss’ last transition with a full set of free potions.

I can see Final Fantasy XVI being a divisive game among fans. The game has just about abandoned the idea of being an RPG and transitioned to full-on action hack and slash. The idea of gaining stats almost feels like a joke as you level up and see your attack and defense figures increase, but enemies just seem to hit the same proportions of your health and take roughly the same number of hits to kill. The same goes for the numerous new pieces of gear and upgrades you can add to said gear. It never really feels like you’re grinding out to make Clive more dangerous as enemies just level up with you. It stops you from ever feeling truly powerful and it makes the whole experience system feel like lip service.

The party system also feels like a snub to RPG fans. You have a party that changes over the story, sure, but they act as passive healing and damage. They’re pretty useful as characters like Jill and Cid will clean up random mobs and let you focus on the big baddie whenever they show up. And they will show up. A lot. You can’t control your party however, and they don’t have things like mana or health to manage so they’ll never run out of energy or be downed. So if you wanted more of the party system from FFXV, you’re out of luck here.

The soundtrack is fantastic, as are the voice actors. I did have a good few “oh damn” moments at various parts of the plot and I did enjoy the main story quite a bit. But the overall game seems to be having an identity crisis in what it wants to be; Final Fantasy or Devil May Cry. The giant kaiju battles that also aren’t difficult at all. I also question the value of the game’s story length. By the time you get into the final third you’ll be tired of Clive endlessly bleating on about how slavery is bad and people shouldn’t be slaves. We get it, there’s very few people playing the game who need convincing on that.

It’s definitely a good looking game, albeit one with some performance issues on PS5 even in performance mode. I only had one crash to home screen while playing the whole game.

In the realm of games that are actually worth a AAA price, Final Fantasy XVI is definitely one of them. The main game will take you around 50 hours if you throw in all the side quests and monsters, and with New Game+ you’re looking at close to 100 hours. Definitely a game for you finance dweebs who love to talk about your cost per hour rather than how much enjoyment you actually got out of the game.

Last I checked Final Fantasy XVI had 28% of the player base with the trophy for completing it, which is wild. Let me know if you’ve played or even beaten FFXVI in the comments below. This article not sponsored by Gamefly.