While I am perturbed by the ease of difficulty in Final Fantasy XVI there is no mistaking the quality in the presentation. The visuals are a herculean feat, and the story is a sublime concoction of surreal and melancholic themes. The music is an epic blaring fiesta to behold.
Final Fantasy XVI is a very easy game, a flaw that is further highlighted by the nature of being an action roleplaying game. You essentially have your hand held throughout the game. Potions heal a substantial amount of your health bar, and you are handed a deluge of healing and damage mitigating mechanisms. The game only gets easier as it goes on and you get two other party members to fight with and Eikon powers to shift and abuse. Maybe the game substantially increases in difficulty in the unlocked hard mode to provide a more challenging experience, but I am not going to replay the 40+hour epic yet.
In the future I might review the hard mode, but this is for the base experience and as such will exclude the DLC that is rather obtuse to reach. It is a daft idea to have the DLC only accessible near the end of the game… Not after the game or separate but in a rather peculiar spot where if you selected a new game plus and deleted your game you will have to slog through the same experience to reach it. You can also complete quests in the game that make it even easier by upgrading your potion storage (I didn’t even do that, but I had a jovial time mashing my way through enemies).
The good in the gameplay is how flashy and responsive combat is. There are quite a few flamboyant attacks that Clive can pull off in the game that quite frankly bedazzle me in retrospect. This isn’t even considering the massive eikon battles which while from a pure gameplay perspective are clunky and ripe with quick time events (which are also in some of the non-Eikon battles. Now for the rather abrupt and jarring transition I will make into the presentation. The visuals are quite simply stunning at times. The vistas, main characters, and Eikons are jaw droppingly gorgeous. There clearly is a lot of attention to detail in the particle effects for instance. The environmental art direction really impressed me, and the main character designs were well done in fitting the gritty tale while still being stylish.
The story is in my opinion the main draw of the game. The story is ripe with despair and impending doom. To me this Final Fantasy is what Majora’s Mask is to the Zelda games in terms of tone and urgency. The blight is consuming Valisthea and monsters are encroaching civilization. Meanwhile kingdoms are warring and there are quite a few unexpected twists and turns throughout the somber tale. There are various bits of lore scattered and directly told to the player. If you love the story this game tells you there is an abundance of lore and nuance for you to uncover.
I just plowed through the main story succinctly and was still impressed by the narrative prowess and voice acting talent. The story deals with impressive themes like sacrifice, mortality, etc. There is also quite a bit of existentialism in the story.
The soundtrack is an epic one like any final fantasy before it. Final Fantasty games have always had stellar soundtracks, and this one does not disappoint in that regard. The orchestra is powerful, and the sound design is in my opinion flawless with a plethora of sound effects to behold.
Pros
- + Stylish epic visuals
- + Powerful and meaningful storyline
- + As usual a banger soundtrack by a Final Fantasy game
Cons
- - Too easy
- - Can be a bit repetitive
8
Gameplay
9
Graphics
10
Story
9
Sound
7
Replayability
9.5
out of 10
Overall
I highly recommend playing through or watching a playthrough to experience the story. The visual and sound design are professionally done and the gameplay is competent but the story is the main attraction here.
