Some of the highest highs in the entire series ~ but between the highs it fell flat
Final Fantasy. A series that means so much to me. The previous entry, FF15, was my introduction into single player RPG's. Ever since, I have gone back and played a lot of the older entries, albeit I still have quite a few more to play. It contains my favourite single player game of all time, FFX... as well as the online MMO that I met my wife in, FFXIV. So it goes without saying I was quite excited for this game. When it was first revealed I was extremely hype. Devil May Cry style combat... A huge emphasis on summons... beautiful massive castles enshrined in crystals... and a serious dark story. It looked as if they were trying to take Final Fantasy back to its roots (in everything except the gameplay). I saw it was being made by Yoshi P and his team, the same Square Enix division that is behind the MMO FFXIV and I had a lot of faith they would do an amazing job. And that they did. FFXVI has some of the best moments in the ENTIRE series. It is so faithful to the formula that makes up a Final Fantasy game. It felt like a giant love letter to the series and honoured its legacy beautifully. The only problem was in between these moments of pure brilliance, the game lost its way and momentum. You could very well tell that this teams previous work was an MMO as there was a lot of unnecessary filler that felt like it was just there to increase the length of the game. It ended up being a rollercoaster of ups and downs in terms of quality. Some nights I was so incredibly excited to continue playing and other nights I hesitated starting because I knew I had a lot of boring quests until the next big moment.
Final Fantasy XVI does a great job at ensuring all the main themes and tropes that make up a true Final Fantasy story are present, while also mixing things up to make itself unique. The story starts off incredibly with one of the best intro's to a video game you'll ever see. I won't spoil anything but the first 2 or 3 hours does a great job at captivating you early on. After that, the main story becomes somewhat grounded. Quite simply, we are on a mission to save the world, just like every other Final Fantasy. There is a blight on the world of Valisthea that is slowly making the lands uninhabitable ~ and it's up to Clive and a team of outlaws to find a way to stop it. They are seen as outlaws as their idea of stopping the blight is to destroy the sacred mother crystals found across the lands. The mother crystals are responsible for fueling society and have become overly relied upon for everyday tasks such as simply lighting a cigarette. It reminded me a lot of FF7 by going through Midgar and destroying the Mako reactors. I thought this main plot was interesting enough and had some amazing moments. I was a little confused as to why they thought destroying the crystals would stop the blight. To my knowledge, the game never gave an explanation as to why Cid thought this way. It kind of just felt like he was taking a guess. As a result I was constantly questioning the actions of the main cast instead of getting behind them.
The best example of evolving the franchise and making itself unique was their approach to one of the staples of the series ~ Summons. In this world of Valisthea they are called "Eikons". For the first time we see them embodied by a select few special humans, called "Dominants" who have been gifted their god like elemental powers. They can transform themselves into their Eikon form at anytime (although it takes up a lot of their energy, so it's never abused). They are mostly rulers of nations and armies ~ usually saving their transformations into their Eikonic form during big wars, as a card up the sleeve for each nation. This was such a great idea and honoured the legacy of the series wonderfully. I've always thought Summons were a bit of a side thought in the Final Fantasy games I've played. But here we get to seem them front and center. Giving them human hosts just made so much sense and reached into new untapped potential for the series. We usually see summons as good guys who fight alongside us in previous entries, but I also liked how here some of them were corrupt and flawed ~ due to the fact that they were also human.
While the story is often contained to the main character Clive's adventures, there is always something more happening around you in the world of Valisthea. Sometimes the game would cut away from the main objective's story with "Meanwhile..." cutscenes providing insights into the politics and dealings of surrounding nations. These were always my favourite. It made the story feel bigger and ever-changing. I just wish there was more of them.
It's not until the latter parts of the game where the story really opens up and the stakes become even higher. I can see they were trying to keep things a mystery. But by the time you find out the story's big revelation, it ends up feeling as if it was kind of just tacked on at the end. I really wish this chapter of the story was brought upon earlier. But that's not to say I didn't love it. Of course, I'm talking about Ultima and his motives. I loved the idea of rebelling against our own creator. That the entire human race was just a tool for Ultima to refresh the world of the damage the god's had left behind. Really good stuff. The story kind of switched from low fantasy into high fantasy and everything just felt so much more surreal.
One of my biggest concerns going into the game was the lack of a party system. My favourite aspect of a FF game is becoming friends with the main cast. Going on a journey to save the world together. Seeing the unique dynamics between all the characters. In FF16 the traditional party system isn't there... apart from your dog companion Torgal. Otherwise, characters join and leave Clive and Torgal at different parts of the game. However, this didn't really bother me in the end. It led to more intimate moments as a lot of the time it was just Clive and one other party member. Also, the game alternates between different party members enough so that you don't start to get sick or bored of your companion.
The main character Clive might go down as one of the best protagonists the series has seen. We see him go through so much heartbreak and anguish only for him to continously keep going. He starts off very quiet, as he is so focused on his own task of avenging his brother. Only to find out he is the second Dominant of Fire, Ifrit... and it was he himself who killed his brother. He is in anguish and even asks to be killed. But eventually we see him evolve as a person. Realising there is more to fight for than just himself. He becomes everybody's go to person to talk to. He gains confidence. I feel like the Clive at the beginning of the story is so different to the one at the end ~ there was a lot of self growth. I really loved how he continued the legacy of Cid. Even bearing his name just so others could feel as if their leader was still there with them. He becomes a beacon of hope. A terrifically written character.
Every FF must have a love story and FF16 has a beautiful one. You could tell Clive and Jill really loved each other. It slowly builds over the course of the game which I liked. They are clearly both too shy to admit their feelings at the start but eventually we get the cutscene by the beach and all the emotions and feelings come pouring out. It isn't shoved in your face the entire game either, just nice little moments together sprinkled throughout.
Then there's Clive's best friend, the dog, Torgal. I thought he was a great little addition to the game. He's there with you as a little pup at the start of the game, all the way to the end. Who doesn't want a loyal dog fighting alongside you every step of the way.
It was also really cool to see Cid get so much screentime and focus in FF16. Much like the Eikons, it was another case of FF16 getting the most out of the series icons ~ instead of just creating original characters to fill these roles. He was a huge reason Clive had any direction after finding out he was the one who had killed his own brother. Him and Clive just had a really nice connection that was really enjoyable to watch as they got closer throughout the game. He would of been hella proud of Clive.
Soken teams up with Yoshi P again as the music composer after their success with FF14. This is Soken's first time working on a single player Final Fantasy game. Following in the footsteps of some pretty big names. Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, Masashi Hamauzu & Naoshi Mizuta to name a few. I have massive expectations when it comes to a Final Fantasy soundtrack. It has some of the best video game music you'll ever hear in my opinion. So, the bar was set high. Now the soundtrack for FF16 is good for sure. Like really good. But it just wasn't that memorable for me. There's only a few tracks I see myself ever going back to listen to. I don't really think this was Soken's fault. I just feel like the setting of the game didn't really suit Soken's style. For me Soken shines the most when the setting for his music is more high fantasy...out of this world and reality, a random example could be Ultima Thule in FF14. But a lot of FF16 is spent in ordinary real life settings ~ and thus the music often sounded very ordinary and plain as well. However, the few times the game did lean more into fantasy, such as the incredible eikon fights and the last act of the game, the music really killed it as Soken could expirement more. The eikon fights have some of the best music in the series, with incredible background vocals that just hype you up. The fights wouldn't be nearly as cool without it. Not to mention the Titan fight specifically, this is where Soken really gets into his element and lets out his inner beast. The ending song is also utterly amazing and reaches the heights of other vocalised FF songs/themes such as 'Melodies of Life' & 'Isn't it Wonderful'. My biggest problem though... was the lack of variety. The soundtrack is huge already. So I understand it might of been a budget/time constraint. But for me, every Final Fantasy location should have a new song. It's what makes reaching a new area in the game so exciting... new music to go with it. But so many times a town would re-use generic songs that didn't suit the area it was played in.
Final Fantasy XV brought us a true open world Final Fantasy game for the first time. So it's a little sad to see it return to linear and hallway-esque level design. I have no massive issue with it however. FFX is my favourite game ever and it's essentially the exact same in terms of level design. It was kind of nice having a straight forward map to explore. After coming of Tears of the Kingdom and being exhausted from exploring that map, it was a nice change of pace just being able to go forward, kill some enemies... go forward again, and repeat. However, a lot of the time the levels felt very staged. As if they were ripped from the stage of a theatrical play or something. Broken furniture cutting off paths, empty looking buildings and no signs of life. I love to immerse myself in a world but FFXVI offers little to no chance in doing so. There's just nothing to interact or immerse yourself with. Levels felt simply empty. The game has some levels that open things up a lot, with large open spaces to run around and roam in, such as Central Rosaria and the Dhalmekian Desert. These were fun to explore but also were significantly empty with not much to break up the area. Getting around was fast enough, Chocobos make a return and were easy to control. Although it was a little bit of a pain constantly getting off and on your chocobo anytime you fight enemies or find a chest. The maps size never really justified riding your chocobo, often it was faster to just run.
Onto the combat. It follows on from FF15 as being real-time action combat as opposed to what the series was built on and was known for, turn-based. Although I would love to see a modern turn-based Final Fantasy again soon, I still love me some fast paced action combat. They got the lead combat designer from Devil May Cry, Ryota Suzuki, to come on board and design the combat here. While the combat isn't as sylish and crazy as Devil May Cry, it is still very fast and you can dish up some very cool combos. It's also all very refined. Everything works so smoothly and abilities can easily be chained together. It never gets overwhelming either. As you are only able to select and use a maximum of 9 abilities during a fight. So each player will have a certain build depending on their chosen abilities. There's enough abilities to suit every playstyle. If you want to just go into every battle on the offensive you can, spamming AOE's & powerful single target abilities. Or you can play the way I like, counter-attacking and parrying. The game has some of the best parry mechanics in any video game I've played. There are so many different ways to parry an enemy and each one of them feels so satisying. This alone really carried the combat for me the whole way through. I think I might of got bored if I had just got on the offensive and tried wiping everything as quickly as possible. Also a quick mention to the Odin abilities... they are some of the coolest looking abilities I've ever come across. It's a pity you unlock it so late in to the game. But it's my only reason I'd ever start a new game plus playthrough.
Which brings me to my next point. The difficulty. The game is a little too easy. Now I don't think that can ever be taken as as a criticism, as that might just be exactly what some players are looking for. But just for me personally, I would of liked a bit more of a challenge. It's by far the easiest Final Fantasy game in the series. I think I died perhaps 3-4 times during the entire game. Enemies outside of bosses can pretty much be defeated without any thinking. Unless you add a bit more of a challenge yourself by trying to parry, you can easily just spam all your abilities and normal attacks to win your battles. Enemies don't fight back much at all and hitting them with one normal attack usually interrupted their own attack. The bosses offer a little more of a challenge at least.
Speaking of bosses... the game has some set piece boss fights that I can honestly say ~ are some of the best moments in all my time gaming. I mentioned the summons/Eikons before and how cool it was to see them have strong ties to the story and a human host to give them personality. The fights you have against these Eikons are just simply incredible. Jaw droppingly incredible. To the point I was audibly saying to myself "holy shit" during some of these fights. These set piece bosses offer a new version of combat, where you play as both of the Dominants of Fire. It mainly just involved dodging, shooting, a few abilities and even some QTE's. But it was so cinematic. The music Soken provides is next level. The settings, often taking place in the skies are breathtaking. The length of them could often exceed 30 minutes, so it felt like a real grind and when you were done you genuinely felt exhausted. Just the situation itself was so cool. Seeing two of the famous summons going head-to-head seems straight out of a fan fiction, but here we get to see it for what I believe is the first time, and they absolutely killed it. Best parts of the game.
I know if they had too many of these set piece boss fights they would absolutely lose their charm. But I was often playing FFXVI just waiting for the next big Eikon battle. Not only for the fight itself, but for the story progress that happens before and after them. Which leads me to my biggest issue with the game. It has a lot of incredible high moments, but in between them, the game felt so boring and stale in comparison. After a big story event, such as taking down one of the mothercrystals ~ you'll often just return to the hideway, which is the game's main hub area. It's here the game just really fell flat for me. You will constantly talk to side characters such as Otto, Mid, Harpocrates and Lady Charon. These characters have no real bearing on the story apart from just being there to tell you what to do next. So there's a lot of running around the hideaway as characters would often pass you onto another character saying something like "maybe Harpocrates will know something!". I do sound a little nit-picky here but I really felt these moments dragged. The best example I can give is the quest to help Mid build the ship. It's up to us to get her all the materials needed for building it. This part dragged forever and there were plenty more parts like it. It also often resulted in going back to previous towns to ask other characters elsewhere for information, such as Martha in her Inn. There were also quests outside of the hideaway that felt completely filler. Instead of giving the story a moment to breathe and see the characters reflect on the journey so far, it just has you fulfill some boring task or duty for someone else. I recall one or two quests where you go outside with Jill and Gav to retrieve some materials, but at the end of each, had a nice little chat together. I would of liked more of this. Quiet moments where the characters can finally stop doing things and just sit and reflect. As a result, so can the player.
Side Quests were also disappointing. If I could go back in time, I would probably just skip them all. I can't think of any memorable side quest that added anything to my experience. They all felt so pointless. Just fetch quests that always resulted in a bunch of enemies attacking you, they lacked any imagination. I can sum it up with the side quests involving the Hideaway's blacksmith. You have the first quest were some random character comes up to you concerned about the mental health of the Blacksmith. We talk to him and find out he's feeling insecure and comparing his work to other blacksmith's work. We go fetch some high valuable material (after defeating some nearby enemies surrounding it of course) to help him make something of higher quality to boost his confidence. Fine, not the worst side-quest in the world. But later on, we have another quest doing the exact same thing. Then a 3rd... and a 4th. When I saw the 4th one, I decided to stop completing any more side quests. A lot of them are like that, were you are just doing the same thing over and over again. The hunts however, were you get to battle the hardest enemies in the game, were a fun addition and solid side content.
FFXVI is the first game to make me cry. The ending was beautiful and proved the characters and story made an impact on me. I truly cared for Clive and the gang. I also had a serious case of post-game depression after playing ~ knowing I probably wouldn't return to that universe again anytime soon. These two facts are the highest praise I can give a game. It was truly a worthy entry into the series and I wouldn't be mad if the team got another chance to make another entry with the lessons learnt from this one. It really could of been a masterpiece, if they had just fleshed out the best parts and got rid of all the unnecessary filler. Still, I had a really fun time playing this game. Overall, a very positive experience.