Even after 50 plus hours of Final Fantasy XVI, I am satisfied with this monumental addition to the franchise. Final Fantasy has always been a series that seeks to innovate by establishing the new vogue in the video game world, each mainline series doing something new or special. This time around are the colossal battles involving the series’ Summons, the weapons of mass destruction Eikons. The battle involving Eikons are truly monumental in scope and energy. The battles feel intense and those moments make you feel powerful, almost unstoppable. And each of those key moments are accompanied by a truly epic soundtrack.
Game of Thrones inspired narrative
The Producer Naoki Yoshida has stated that the narrative was inspired by Game of Thrones, where the team was required to watch up to season 4 of the series as inspiration. That’s evident throughout since there is a lot of Game of Thrones-like story beats and characters that shine through from that television series to this game, but one thing is abundantly clear – the story of Final Fantasy XVI is superior and unique. There is a satisfying and worthwhile story by the time you see the credits. Is it executed well, in parts no, but overall it’s a great story and one that will stand the test of time.
The world of Valisthea is based on medieval Britain. The characters all have English-accents, look British and many of the surrounds and locales are very reminiscent of that part of the world, except the dessert areas of Dhalmekia – which resemble parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
The story of Final Fantasy XVI starts off incredible strong with the introduction of the main character Clive Rosfield at age 15. At age 15, Clive’s world is turned upside down when he loses his father and his brother after the neighbouring kingdom of Sanbreque use an opportunity to invade and conquer Clive’s homeland of Rosaria for itself. It is during these early moments that the key characters are introduced, the main threat (being Sanbreque and believe it or not, Clive’s actual biological mother Annabella), and Clive’s motivation to seek revenge on the one’s who killed his brother Joshua.
The next phase in the story time warps to Clive when he is age 28. It is at this time that he is able to join with a rebel leader Cid, his loyal hound Torgal and childhood friend Jill. In all, there are three sections in the game where the third section represents the majority of the game.
The narrative remains strong up until the three quarters of the game’s length time, but does start to form cracks near its finale. The problem comes down to the stakes and the stakes for characters like Clive drastically change throughout the game to the point that his stakes don’t feel as compelling towards the end. There is still a need to finish the game or confront the final foe, but the way it is presented doesn’t offer much in the way of urgency or desire for me to rush to it.
Some of the battles are monumental in scope and execution
The battle mechanics are quite simplistic at the start with just pressing square spams, but it gets more interesting as Clive earns more Eikon powers during the main quest. By the end game, I opted to use the powers of the Phoenix, Shiva and Odin, because Phoenix allowed for shifting towards energies, Shiva had a powerful freeze, and Odin offered the most powerful attack in the game Zantetsuken.
The Eikon battles are epic in scale and scope. There are several battles, each having slightly different playstyles.
It would have been nice to have a few more options to mix up light and strong sword swings and maybe the ability to punch or kick a foe, the various Eikon abilities allow for just enough varied gameplay.
Although Torgal is somewhat controllable, Clive is the only character you get to control in the game (except for a few moments as Joshua and the Phoenix). It would have been nice to play as Cid, Jill or Dion.
The best soundtrack by a Final Fantasy-mile
Masayoshi Soken has to be commended for his epic soundtrack for Final Fantasy XVI. From the introduction during the Phoenix and Ifrit battle to the final boss, Soken manages to deliver some of the best soundtracks in the entire franchise. Every single major battle is accompanied by some truly, epic tracks. I love the tracks “Away” and “Find the Flame”, but there are more exciting, well-done tracks worth listening to.
The voice acting in this game is out of this world good. There were moments where I was captivated by just how incredible some of the characters sounded and the energy they gave to a well written script.
Final Fantasy XVI is an exclusive for the PlayStation 5 and has been hyped by several months in the lead up to its release.
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