Final Fantasy XVI Review: An RPG That Expands the Concepts of the Series

Final Fantasy XVI is undoubtedly one of the games that were expected to define this year’s gaming scene, so much for the RPG to be PlayStation’s 2023 GOTY contender. And it sure is. It came out on June 22 and it has already absolutely blown our minds with its narrative and gameplay mechanics. This game had a lot to prove in representation of the series, which has had many problems with its latest games that have been undeniably divisive among fans. At some point, it almost felt like Final Fantasy could simply not fit in modern times. But I can assure you, this is the definitive “real-time combat” Final Fantasy game ever made. Without any further explanations, let’s dive into the large world of Valisthea.

Final Fantasy XVI is exclusively available for PS5 for $69.99.

Story – An Epic Fight for Freedom

It is more than fair to say that Final Fantasy XVI has one of the most engaging stories told in any RPG game of current-gen consoles. The game has a free playable demo that was released a couple of weeks prior to the full game’s release, which allowed you to play the first couple of hours and a later chapter of the story. Even by just beginning the demo, it feels like you don’t want to stop playing the game. It has an impressively immersive story that keeps the player on the edge of their seat at times, maintains a good rhythm, and makes the game interesting for its approximate 34 hours of the campaign (which is longer if you tackle the game’s side content as you play). It’s also worth noting that approximately 11 of those hours are dedicated to cinematics, so get ready for a dense narrative experience.

The story follows Clive Rosfield, a slave with a tragic past that seeks nothing but revenge on the ones who took everything from him thirteen years ago. It is hard to describe this man in one sentence because his evolution throughout the game is extensive. We get to know every single aspect of Clive’s personality, strengths, and weaknesses. It is unavoidable to feel attached to this guy after everything we witness in his journey. Since the first few hours of the game, I noticed Clive had some kind of “je ne sais quoi” that made him very loveable. He’s very quiet and expressionless during the first 10 hours of the story, and despite his thirst for revenge he’s a kind and sweet person and it shows through his actions with the people that care for others (just like he does).

Clive Rosfield, the protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI.

We also have the main character’s companions. There’s Jill, Clive’s childhood friend with a very strong will and supports him both physically and emotionally throughout the story. We have Cid, undoubtedly one of the most interesting characters of the game (who results slightly mysterious at the beginning). And also, we have Torgal, our very adorable (and deadly) wolf friend (yes, you can pet him!). These characters offer the plot a smooth narrative, especially during the first half where the story sets the bases of what’s to come in the later sections of the game. There are several other secondary characters that end up having a deeper role and they all contribute to the story in their own little ways.

The first half is indeed the most frenetic and story-driven part of the game. Despite being an RPG, Final Fantasy XVI is very linear during these instances and there’s very little to explore. Later on, the game expands and allows the player a little bit more freedom in the world of Valisthea (this is particularly tied to the story as well) and the player gets a steadier rhythm of the events. This allows players to decide when to continue the main journey, thus granting them a better sensation of control as the main character evolves. The story feels a lot slower and heavier during the second half of the game, but this is rewarded with the aforementioned freedom.

At the same time, the game has a few elements that make the story predictable every now and then, but it’s the intrigue of “how” everything is going to happen that makes the player interested in the story. We know our objective, and we’re damn sure we’re going to accomplish it, but the question always is “How the hell are we going to do that?”. This is one of the many aspects that make Final Fantasy XVI the most epic adventure of the franchise (along with the Eikon battles). Nothing is going to stop Clive and company until they fulfill their desire for freedom, which is basically the fuel of the characters’ souls, passion, and love.

Jill, Clive, and Torgal looking at the large world of Valisthea.

The game is almost obsessively inspired by Game of Thrones, and this is one of the key elements that make it a more mature experience compared to other Final Fantasy games. Blood and suggestive themes are present since the very beginning. It also takes a deeper dive into subjects like slavery, war, love, hate, and religion. These subjects are narrated from a dark and destructive point of view. The climactic cinematics, fights, and dialogues of the game reflect a not-so-subtle criticism of humankind in so many ways. And I think there’s the essence of Final Fantasy in this story despite being so different from other games of the franchise.

But not everything is dark and obscure. This maturity also causes a bright impact on the game: Final Fantasy XVI has the most explicit, realistic, and genuine love stories narrated in modern Final Fantasy games. Without spoiling them too much, it is worth saying that this game doesn’t rely on the franchise’s recurrent oneirism and spiritualism to develop the romantic relationships inside the story (like the romantic subplot of Final Fantasy XV, for example). You will witness how the characters care for each other in a very human way, despite them being Bearers and Dominants of their respective Eikons. They’re former slaves with the desire of allowing everyone to be free. The crystals are their demise, and they’re willing to destroy every single one of them if it’s necessary, whatever the cost is.

The story is so deep and complex that it’s definitely the most subjective component of the game, but it lives up to what we expect from a Final Fantasy game. It is filled with dark twists, epic battles, and an endless war of powers that perfectly defines the greed of us humans.

Gameplay – RPG or Hack & Slash?

The combat is easily the aspect with the greatest impact on the whole experience. At the beginning of the story, the real-time close combat feels simple and the game makes sure you don’t struggle with it. There are only a couple of combos to perform and the loop gets very easy to learn. You can actually beat the first couple of bosses without trying, so at this point, you conclude the game won’t give you the more challenging experience Final Fantasy VII Remake offered. But as you progress, you also understand this won’t be the walk-in-the-park Final Fantasy XV was.

You might be able to kill the first bosses by mashing square repeatedly until they’re down, but this changes after a few hours of gameplay. You have to master the dodge mechanic, which is very rewarding when you manage to pull it off at the right time, allowing you to slow down time and hit your target with deadly precision. Also, you will unlock more Eikon powers, which can be upgraded and customized in your load-out. The bosses get tougher, and so do you. But the game will get relentless if you try to stay on the same playstyle you started with.

The first bosses serve as some kind of tutorial.

You have to keep upgrading your powers and making the best possible combinations to keep up with the challenge. The game has the typical feature that causes the enemy to become staggered after getting hit enough times, and when used correctly, you can do thousands and thousands of damage points, so you also have to keep a nice stagger/damage relation in Clive’s load-out. Depending on your playstyle, you might even lean more towards one than the other. It ultimately becomes a highly satisfying experience when you have your own load-out, your own techniques, and your own fighting style.

The Eikon battles are even simpler gameplay-wise, but they are a nice addition to the game’s narrative. While I don’t feel particularly attached to the recurrent anime-themed fights where the characters fly around the sky beating the crap out of each other, I felt they used this kind of fighting style when it was strictly necessary for the plot. There were several Eikon battles stuck to the ground, and those were as fantastic as they could get. The combos and powers are different during these instances, so you have to re-organize your strategies if you want to tackle your enemies.

The game offers a lot of power variations for players to choose from. There isn’t a default combination you have to use to be overpowered. Like every other RPG, you just have to feel comfortable with your own fighting style, and that’s the beautiful thing about combat in Final Fantasy XVI.

The combat is thrilling and captivating.

A Story-Driven Progression – Scarce Side Content?

The beefy RPG side content of Final Fantasy XVI is found exclusively in the secondary missions and the hunt board to locate and kill the most brutal bosses in the game, which are the real challenge of Final Fantasy XVI.

The secondary missions are what you would expect from an RPG game. You will be running errands and solving silly little quests around the world of Valisthea. These missions eventually become crucial if you want to upgrade your gear, so they progressively stop being simple errands and start getting a little more relevant to the game’s lore. It takes a while for them to become interesting, but it ultimately pays off both narratively and gameplay-wise.

However, the game leaves little room for optional exploration. You won’t find hidden chests, hidden bosses, or optional dungeons. There’s only a main path, so you won’t be able to unlock the best gear by finding collectibles or tackling hidden challenges. This makes Final Fantasy XVI the most linear RPG you’ll ever play. We tend to play RPGs for the exploration, the upgrading, and the sensation of leveling up as we defeat our enemies. In this case, the game’s progression relies almost exclusively on the story. By playing the main missions, you can unlock more powers, more secondary missions that allow you to upgrade your gear to the fullest, more bosses from the hunt board, and more accessories. This marks a notable difference from other big RPG games, making it feel more like a Hack and Slash.

You’ll be running around Valisthea with Torgal doing side quests and hunts.

I personally didn’t feel too threatened by this difference. Despite the genre we’re discussing here, I tend to prefer more linear games instead of full-blown open worlds. When you look back and think about Final Fantasy XV, that is precisely what harmed the experience for some players. The game was so open-world that the story drifts away from its original purpose thanks to all that side content that seemed to never end. Final Fantasy XVI does a massive effort to avoid what its predecessor did wrong but remains fairly linear as a result. It all comes down to what you enjoy more. If you prefer the exploration and upgrading part of an RPG, this game might not be for you.

Your experience will be unharmed if you enjoy story-driven games regardless of the genre. Unlike most RPG games, Final Fantasy XVI prioritizes the narrative aspects over exploration and freedom. Even when the world of Valisthea opens up to the player in the second half of the game, there’s nothing much to see apart from monsters and secondary missions. You should take this into consideration if you were expecting it to be strictly loyal to its genre. In fact, the game twists the genre to define its own nature, which will inevitably set a precedent for future RPG games. This could mean one step forward for the franchise in some aspects, or one step back in others. I personally think Final Fantasy is stepping out of its comfort zone, and that’s one of the risks we have to take to evolve and be better, so I applaud most of these changes.

Graphics – Too Much for the PS5

This is the part where I go “Well, a game cannot be perfect, right?”. And don’t get me wrong, the graphics aren’t bad. The details in the character models and environments are beautiful, and I really enjoyed the aesthetics of this Final Fantasy game, which were a lot darker and realistic but still maintained those stunning visuals that define the series. It takes the anime aesthetics to a more mature concept, and I honestly loved the approach.

My problem with the graphics is that they don’t feel correctly optimized, and the game was released for only ONE console. I’ve already played several games on PS5 to know that Final Fantasy XVI could have been optimized a little bit better so the console wouldn’t suffer that much while running the game.

While I can only mention the several reports of overheating messages some players received in their PS5 consoles because I didn’t play the game in quality mode, I could still perceive the optimization flaws the game has because of the issues that are present in performance mode. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with playing games at 30 fps, but some of us prefer to sacrifice a bit of the visual quality to reach the highest amount of frames possible, and it’s no secret that Final Fantasy XVI has a not-so-well optimized performance. The game targets 60 fps but struggles to reach them. You mostly play the game while having visual quality drops in open areas at 45 fps, which are still inconsistent at most times.

Despite its technical flaws, Final Fantasy XVI is still visually stunning.

In defense of Square Enix, they have already mentioned they will address performance issues on future patches. But I honestly don’t want to normalize releasing games without giving the player the ability to choose their own gaming standards. “Play Has No Limits”, or so it says one of PlayStation’s catchphrases. The developers have already released a couple of patches that allow you to adjust the motion blur and turn off the auto-follow camera setting, so that’s a step forward. Let’s hope SE eventually releases a patch that fixes whatever is causing the optimization problems in performance mode.

In any case, I think it’s unfair to harm the game’s final score because of the frame rate. Nintendo has already proved several times that a game can easily shine without having better graphics than the rest, and I still think Final Fantasy XVI is very beautiful to the eyes despite its technical flaws. I hope both PlayStation and Xbox keep battling to allow everyone to play under the graphic settings they decide to choose though, especially if we’re talking about their exclusive blockbusters.

Sound – Worthy of Goosebumps

Now, it’s safe to say that a masterpiece of a soundtrack is guaranteed when you play any Final Fantasy game. But Final Fantasy XVI takes that to a whole other level. When we’re fighting an intense combat that is crucial for the story, the game applies an orchestral epicness that I found impressive, even for the franchise we’re talking about.

The soundtrack never goes unnoticed in this game. Even the smaller moments are met with a beautiful piano soundtrack. There isn’t a single song that I heard in Final Fantasy XVI where I said “Hmm, that could have been better”. This is the aspect where Final Fantasy XVI outshines the rest of the franchise. The Eikon battles feel epic and brutal thanks to the orchestral, and sometimes even dubstep-like electronic sounds. Fighting your enemies, dodging attacks, and activating your most powerful attacks feels completely different thanks to the brilliant music this game has to offer.

The soundtrack adds a lot of value to the Eikon battles.

I will express my deepest admiration to Masayoshi Soken and everyone who worked on the game’s soundtrack by saying that the only game award where Final Fantasy XVI has no contender to fear is for the best OST. We might as well just give it to Square Enix right now if you ask me.