VIDEO GAME REVIEW: Final Fantasy XVI (Demo)
Although a series that has been a longtime favorite of mine, I fully admit that I have a conflicted relationship with modern Final Fantasy. Since the departure of creator Hironobu Sakaguchi from Square Enix, Final Fantasy games have steadily drifted away from the formula that released many classic and beloved games during the SNES and PS1 eras. Some of this can be attributed to the corporate acquisition of Squaresoft and a steady but gradual shift towards appealing to casual players rather than the traditional fans of the series.
Enter Final Fantasy XVI, a game that I greeted with some skepticism despite a certain level of respect for its director. To be fair, Naoki Yoshida is a talented game designer, and he is responsible for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, perhaps Final Fantasy’s greatest success in recent years. One of the most notable areas of praise for FF14 has been the writing, which some have compared favorably to the classic games of the series. As this is an area where Final Fantasy has been sorely lacking since at least FF12, the presence of Yoshida adds confidence in the storytelling of FF16. Yoshida has also made a sincere effort to keep the corporate influence of Square Enix from lowering the quality of his game, which I can also respect.
My issues with Final Fantasy 16 coming into the demo mainly stem from a fundamental disagreement I have with Yoshida’s approach to the game. In the first place, I am not fond of presenting mainline Final Fantasy as an action game, which Yoshida has done here. Action RPGs are not games that I enjoy playing as a general rule (barring rare exceptions like the NieR series), and I don’t like the shift away from the more tactical elements of the ATB system. I also don’t accept the argument that the ARPG shift is a necessary evolution for the FF series or that turn-based systems are outdated, doubly so given the success of many modern turn-based JRPG titles, including several series published by Square Enix (such as the excellent Octopath Traveler II that released earlier this year).
All that said, I was willing to give the demo a fair chance to convince me of the game’s merits. Now having completed it, I can say that the demo of Final Fantasy XVI is a well-made game despite my personal misgivings about it. While this doesn’t overcome my personal issues with the game’s vision, I can respect that Yoshida does realize his vision successfully. The game does what it sets out to do, and fans of Yoshida’s approach to Final Fantasy should be pleased with the outcome.
In the first place, this is a promising start to a dark fantasy tale, even if its Western influences are noticeable. If you’ve played games like Dragon Age: Origins or Witcher 3, you’ll likely recognize some of the storytelling elements. The combat tutorial, set up as a flashback where Clive is training as a warrior, is reminiscent of Witcher 3. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as it’s done well, and as done here, it’s a perfectly serviceable way to progress the game. Where Final Fantasy 16 shows its own voice mainly lies in the worldbuilding and the way the story weaves classic FF elements into the narrative. Summoned entities (called Eikons in this game) are treated as weapons of mass destruction, which they would be realistically. Crystals, a hallmark of the FF series since the very early games, are a major focus on the story, but they’re used differently than we’ve seen in most of the previous titles. The medieval setting is also traditional to the early FF titles, though here it’s less romanticized; the game takes care to show class differences in this world, and there’s a griminess to the visuals that has a basis in the reality of medieval Europe. I also got a nice chuckle out of the 16-bit characters that the game uses for its save files; it’s a nice nod to the earlier games without being too obvious about its fanservice. Even the Nobuo Uematsu’s victory fanfare theme is back this time, though reimagined in a way that sounds fresh.
There is admittedly a charm to this game’s narrative, and the demo does a good job of making the player care about Clive Rosfield as a character in the time you spend with him. The demo primarily covers Clive’s origins, with a small section of the game (and the accompanying Eikon Challenge section) set in the present. These sections give the player some good exposition, while also helping the player understand Clive’s journey and the situation he must deal with. His family struggles are compelling, making Clive’s sense of loss all the more sympathetic. The villains are also memorable, especially Benedikta, the boss of the Eikon Challenge mode. We get a sense of her character through the early setup scenes and some cutscenes in the Challenge mode, and you get just enough to want to see more of her in the full game.
The technical aspects of the game play to the strengths of Square Enix, who always tend to deliver some impressive graphics on their titles. FF16 takes full advantage of the power of the PS5 hardware, adding some good photorealistic detail to the world of Valistrea. The cinematics on this game are beautiful to look at, even when looking at some of the more dismal parts of the world, like the Stillwood swamp. The characters still have that Square Enix look, with the rendering of its characters, but they’ve made it look much sharper and they look like they belong in that gritty dark fantasy setting. The combat is quite fast and fluid, though it may take some adjustment as the player gets used to the ability settings, such as special attacks and summons. More advanced ARPG players may find the combat a bit too easy, but I appreciate that the game tried to address the concerns of FF fans who dislike ARPG combat. Finally, the musical score is hauntingly beautiful, fitting the Final Fantasy style without trying to duplicate what Nobuo Uematsu did.
Mind, there are some issues that I had with my playthrough of the demo, though nothing too significant. The game tends to hold the player’s hand quite a bit through the tutorial sections, going through every aspect of the controls in painstaking detail. Do we really need to be told how to move the character around on the screen, for instance? The tutorials tend to be overly simplistic and slow down the game and the narrative. Sometimes the traversal is a little clunky, especially with the use of QTE’s to open doors and navigation that is imprecise at times. In fact, QTE’s are frequent in this game, especially during boss battles, where cinematic dodges and cinematic attacks are common. The combat does get button-mashy at times, which is one of my issues with ARPG systems. Also, while it may simply be due my poor night vision, I found certain corridors to be so dark that they were difficult to navigate, especially in the Challenge mode dungeon.
If the full game of Final Fantasy 16 is as good as what the demo has shown and the game appeals to you, it’s likely you’ll have a good time with it. Mind that this game will not appeal to a segment of the fandom, especially those players who aren’t good at ARPGs and/or prefer turn-based or Active Time Battle over action games. However, even as someone who doesn’t like most ARPGs, this demo has enough to recommend it if you’re curious, and it succeeds in making me want to learn more about the characters and the world of FF16. On top of that, this demo is currently free to download from PSN, so it’s worth checking out if you’re at least curious about whether this game might be for you. While I don’t think FF16 has entirely overcome my own misgivings about Yoshida’s direction, it has convinced me that there is an enjoyable game here for the audience it does appeal to.
Score: 4.5/5
Platform: PS5
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Naoki Yoshida
Author Profile
- Steve Sellers had been a fan of superheroes ever since Superman: The Movie. But it took the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dragonlance, Lord of the Rings, Twilight Zone, and Chris Claremont's legendary run on the X-Men to make him a writer and a longtime fan of comics, fantasy, and science fiction. Steve is the co-creator of WHITE DRUID & MICHAEL NERO and GUARDIANS OF ELAYIM for Omen Comics, and he is also the creator of BLITZ and SHOCKWAVE for Revelation Comics (an imprint of Omen Comics).
