Final Fantasy XVI

 PlayStation 5
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8567 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,528 out of 8567
  2. Mixed: 693 out of 8567
  3. Negative: 1,346 out of 8567
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  1. damahala
    Jul 10, 2023
    6
    Overall game play is fine but the story is just incomplete. Subtasks are mostly repeating same thing over and over. The game has a good start but just end poorly. If this is not main FF series, it will be maybe score an 8, but for a triple A game and call itself FF 16, this certainly is not a game I would recommend.
  2. phrosnite_
    Jul 1, 2023
    6
    I don't care that this doesn't feel like a Final Fantasy game. I'm judging it on its own merits.

    It's "all flash, no substance". Many undercooked elements. Terrible level design with annoying traversal mechanics. Boring MMO style quests. It's not an RPG, it's an Action Adventure with very light RPG elements. No spoilers but you could guess what the final boss would be like... Very    I don't care that this doesn't feel like a Final Fantasy game. I'm judging it on its own merits.

    It's "all flash, no substance". Many undercooked elements. Terrible level design with annoying traversal mechanics. Boring MMO style quests. It's not an RPG, it's an Action Adventure with very light RPG elements.

    No spoilers but you could guess what the final boss would be like... Very played out at this point. Stop it.

    The only redeeming quality of this game is the combat but only during some 1v1 fights.    … Expand
  3. bluecollarjenny
    Jul 9, 2023
    6
    I guess the best way to put this is.. I am bored. FF has always been a story driven RPG and I feel like it’s been sacrificed for flashy combat. I am about 40% through the main missions (I have also completed every side quest thus far) and to continue on just feels like a chore and a drag. Everything feels bland and the main story is full of filler to a point where there isn’t a sense ofI guess the best way to put this is.. I am bored. FF has always been a story driven RPG and I feel like it’s been sacrificed for flashy combat. I am about 40% through the main missions (I have also completed every side quest thus far) and to continue on just feels like a chore and a drag. Everything feels bland and the main story is full of filler to a point where there isn’t a sense of pacing or urgency. I am disappointed as I was very excited for the next entry, and now I can’t even see myself finishing the game.… Expand
  4. Xalmo43
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    XVI does Final Fantasy well enough that it deserves a higher score then what many people are giving it.. The game lacks in RPG elements keeps it from being a 10/10 which is a shame. YoshiP needs to start adding more interesting forms of gearing to his games if he wants to stay ontop.

    I believe many negative reviews are due to people simply being unable to afford a PS5 for one game.    XVI does Final Fantasy well enough that it deserves a higher score then what many people are giving it.. The game lacks in RPG elements keeps it from being a 10/10 which is a shame. YoshiP needs to start adding more interesting forms of gearing to his games if he wants to stay ontop.

    I believe many negative reviews are due to people simply being unable to afford a PS5 for one game. While its true, Sony has literally 0 good games worth buying the console for, you can just do what I did and buy the console at Wal-Mart and eventually return it after beating XVI.

    Another reason the game is getting bad reviews is due to 3rd world countries banning it, namely Saudi Arabia. This may explain why many ESL comments are on here saying its a "bad" game.    … Expand
  5. JankMedia
    Jul 6, 2023
    6
    It's not a bad game by any means but it's also not very good for what it is. FFXVI is a really shallow cinematic action game at it's core. There's lot of cut scenes, combat is fun but repetitive. The game is incredibly easy, not necessarily a bad thing but for those expecting something like actual DMC or Souls, it isn't happening. The game is incredibly easy/forgiving.

    XVI was clearly    It's not a bad game by any means but it's also not very good for what it is. FFXVI is a really shallow cinematic action game at it's core. There's lot of cut scenes, combat is fun but repetitive. The game is incredibly easy, not necessarily a bad thing but for those expecting something like actual DMC or Souls, it isn't happening. The game is incredibly easy/forgiving.

    XVI was clearly designed with a mass audience in mind. Some people are going to love it, some aren't. The thing that surprises me most is just how shallow it is, it really is just running from A to B while killing low level enemies followed by a relatively easy boss and then an even easier Eikon fight. It's lowest common denominator style gameplay in 2023. This game would even be considered basic in terms of gameplay if it released on the PS3 back in 2008.

    I can't even comment on any RPG mechanics because they are non-existent. Yes, you go up levels and you can craft gear. However, the gear you craft is locked to game progression, meaning that there is usually one 1 item to choose from and it's a +1 of whatever you can buy in the store. The upgrade system is a standard skill tree but for combat only. Don't expect to cast buffs/debuffs/libra. None of that is in XVI. It's purely hack and slash gameplay with cool down timers for special attacks.

    It has the stagger system as seen in other FF games but it does not utilize it well, very uninspired compared to FFXIII and FF7R. Enemies also feel like damage sponges. I'm enjoying the game but honestly have no idea what the hype is about. It genuinely feels like playing a remastered PS3 title.    … Expand
  6. Renzokuken
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    To preface this, I'm a long time FF fan, I fundamentally disagree with a company building a series of RPG games off the money of long term fans, then throwing them to the wayside in order to make action games, under some false pretence that turn based RPG's don't sell.

    That said, I'll put that to one side in this review and be strictly objective, I'm 23 hours into my play through and    To preface this, I'm a long time FF fan, I fundamentally disagree with a company building a series of RPG games off the money of long term fans, then throwing them to the wayside in order to make action games, under some false pretence that turn based RPG's don't sell.

    That said, I'll put that to one side in this review and be strictly objective, I'm 23 hours into my play through and have just passed the second time skip, this review will be spoiler free, however.

    The Good:
    The graphics are excellent.
    The soundtrack is good, Soken is putting in the work yet again and doesn't disappoint.
    Set piece battles are an absolute visual treat, probably some of the best in the franchise, they're really spectacular.
    The main cast of characters are all very likable.
    The voice acting is for the most part fantastic
    Combat is flashy and looks excellent
    The plot is good, if you put in the reading hours.
    The world is very pretty.

    The Bad:
    Performance is abysmal, graphics mode runs at a decently stable 30fps, performance mode runs at anything between 30 and 45fps and jumps around constantly, I found myself playing on graphics mode as a stable frame rate is less distracting than one that jumps around all over the place, still I'd have taken a graphical downgrade for a stable 60fps performance mode.
    Combat is visually flashy, but lacks any depth, you evade, hit stuff with square x4 then triangle, and use your abilities on cooldown, there is no other meaningful strategy involved.
    During my 23 hours with the game I've noticed quite a bit of reuse of bosses, the one that stands out are the dragoon bosses, I'm not sure if we're just going though the whole colour pallet but so far I've fought a silver, white and black one.
    Combat is laughably easy, and difficulty options are locked behind new game plus, enemies engage you in groups but attack you one by one, completely breaking any immersion, not that it matters since anything that isn't a mini boss or boss, never gets a hit in because you stun lock them with all your attacks or one shot them all with AoE abilities.
    Equipment, crafting and just items in general are massively gutted and mostly pointless
    Quest, chest and combat rewards give you materials for crafting most of the time, leaving you feeling cheated, as they're feeding you items for a pointless system.
    Side quests are bland and boring, they feel like MMO fetch quests.
    The plot makes sense, but you need to do a large amount of outside reading in order to understand it, if I can't understand a plot without external help, that's a bad plot. Also it's a real rollercoaster in terms of pacing, one minute I'm in some hype set piece encounter then the next I'm gathering apples for some reason, and these peaks and troughs happen throughout the game.
    The world is very empty, there isn't much of anything to discover by going off the beaten trail.
    The set piece battles are either VERY simplified versions of regular combat, or entirely QTE events, they're extremely impressive to look at, but not very interesting to play.

    All in all, this game is a middling action game, it gets a decent amount right, but all the bits it gets right are the bits I'm not playing, they're the bits I'm watching. It pains me to know we lost the best RPG's in the history of video games, and this is what's wearing its skin.    … Expand
  7. FlintEastwood
    Jun 25, 2023
    6
    An extremely uneven game, that starts off with so much promise only to rapidly go downhill.
    The fun combat beomes stale, repetitive and unchallenging. The story, full of intrigue, goes nowhere. The characters became less and less interesting. The dialogue goes from being quite well written to full of cliché. Everything great about the game disappears at the 15 hour mark.
    At its best, in    An extremely uneven game, that starts off with so much promise only to rapidly go downhill.
    The fun combat beomes stale, repetitive and unchallenging. The story, full of intrigue, goes nowhere. The characters became less and less interesting. The dialogue goes from being quite well written to full of cliché. Everything great about the game disappears at the 15 hour mark.
    At its best, in the first act, the game is as good as it gets. But it deteriorated so fast to the point I couldn't wait for it to end.
    The game has many other glaring faults (bad technical performance, terrible lip sync, a crafting mechanic that you may as well just ignore, an empty feeling world that doesn't much incentivise exploration, other areas that are just corridors, the worst and most uninspired sidequests I've ever seen, and an extremely mediocre soundtrack). These can be forgiven when the story and characters and engaging enough, but become more annoying when you lose interest in main body of the game.
    One of the most disappointing gaming experiences I can remember, made all the worse because it started off so well. Don't base your purchase decision on the outstanding demo, it isn't representative of the rest of the game.    … Expand
  8. vvv123
    Jul 7, 2023
    7
    Overall I enjoyed the game, I liked the story, the lore, and I'm happy I played it. It's not a bad game. However, there were some flaws that took out a bit of the enjoyment and I finished the game with an impactful ending with mixed feelings. The beginning, some parts in the middle and the end were the most engaging. It does miss some of the magic and balance that I felt in FF7 RemakeOverall I enjoyed the game, I liked the story, the lore, and I'm happy I played it. It's not a bad game. However, there were some flaws that took out a bit of the enjoyment and I finished the game with an impactful ending with mixed feelings. The beginning, some parts in the middle and the end were the most engaging. It does miss some of the magic and balance that I felt in FF7 Remake regarding gameplay and characters.

    Pros:
    - The story: carries the game, the cutscenes were great where it mattered. The demo was amazing, first 3-4 hours are intense, then it flattens a bit but overall it picks up at certain points as you progress. I did feel like I was on a lifelong journey with the characters and by the end it was sad to come to a close. Fantasy, especially geo- political based, is my favourite genre so it contributed to me enjoying the game and the world.

    - Soundtrack and visuals

    - Combat: was generally good, the precision dodge then attack was rewarding. The boss fights were fun and challenging!

    - Eikons: being the central part of the game/story was interesting

    - No puzzles or getting lost thanks to Torgal!

    Cons:
    - Cutscenes: I prefer story-based games but this one suffers from too many cutscenes. At times I felt like I was watching the game, sitting on the sidelines vs being immersed in it.

    - Length of game: I felt the game was too long for the story told. Too much filler at times. Towards the end I just wanted to complete the game. Not sure if I would re-play due to the cutscenes, I would prefer to rewatch those if I wanted to get back into the world vs playing the game again. I have played 50+ hour games such as Fire emblem three houses where there was a lot of story and is geo-political fantasy focused but the difference is the gameplay variety with strategy focus. The strategy aspect seen in political fantasy isn't mirrored in the gameplay in FF16 so there isn't much payoff in the end for spending this long in what should primarily be a game, not a movie. This isn't a strategy game but the combat mechanics could have had this or having more control of a party/team combat special seen in yakuza like a dragon or xenoblade chain attack. Since the combat is more simple vs other action games like Astral Chain for eg, I would have preferred a shorter game around 15-20 hours vs 40.

    - Combat: has breadth but not enough depth. I had no incentive to try other eikon abilities towards the end of the game and there were only three slots. I didn't use the auto features and it still felt quite easy, except during boss fights. No enemy weaknesses to consider which could have been done seeing as the eikons have elemental powers so the player could have been strategic with when to use those abilities. The fights were fun and some challenging but the enemies became a bit repetitive. I only died 4 times (sometimes I didn't look at health bar, never died in Eikon fight) and even if you do they replenish all potions so no need to buy or look for much of them. Crafting didn't feel rewarding and it was possible to even buy the better weapons/armor. The cinematic QTE aren't quick so slows down the game a bit and it's always the same button so I already knew what to press.

    - Side quests: I did all except maybe 5. However, they weren't engaging, animation is bland and too much dialogue for fetch quests, defeating enemies.

    - Characters: I didn't become attached to the characters as a whole and it's probably because a couple of the most engaging ones, including villians, die earlier in the game or aren't featured enough and there is no consistent party. Jill is supposed to be a main character but doesn't seem like one. I became more attached to Clive only at the end. I did however like Joshua and the brotherly bond that was showcased at the end.

    - Exploration: I prefer to find my way to a new area, then the ability to fast travel vs relying on fast travel for main story. But this was probably not included as the environments look nice but are empty.

    - Ending: I thought I understood the ending, but it seems it was ambiguous? I prefer clear endings to games. If I believe my perspective of the ending, it was very impactful but not one I want to return to.

    - Edit: I tried ng+ for about an hour past the demo and I was still using the same combat, just need to dodge quicker and enemies health takes longer to decrease. Environments aren't worth exploring and new crafting materials are lackluster. Game just feels a bit bleak knowing what will happen. Now that I've had longer to sit with the game, it is a bit disappointing as I was excited since it was first announced but not much for me to return to.    … Expand
  9. Markbentley7
    Jul 3, 2023
    6
    Worst mainline FF story. Same boring linear level design as 13. Regurgitated world and themes.
    Combat was fun but could have had way more depth. Side quests and 'crafting' system were a huge waste of time.
    Can't believe there was no overworld...just a straight game of thrones intro rip off...
  10. kpc
    Jul 7, 2023
    7
    First, let me express how exhausting you "fanboy" vs. "hater" reviewers are. You should be moderated off this damn site, as your 0's and 10's contribute absolutely nothing of value to honest, unbiased feedback for informing purchasing decisions. Anyone giving this game a 0 is either completely dishonest or a neurotic gen-x OG FF player still moaning about the "death of a franchise" thatFirst, let me express how exhausting you "fanboy" vs. "hater" reviewers are. You should be moderated off this damn site, as your 0's and 10's contribute absolutely nothing of value to honest, unbiased feedback for informing purchasing decisions. Anyone giving this game a 0 is either completely dishonest or a neurotic gen-x OG FF player still moaning about the "death of a franchise" that started over two decades ago. You'd have us believe for $70 you wanted a 16-bit pixel art game with MIDI music, 20 minute long random trash mob battles, and 32 different consumables for each status ailment. That era has thankfully passed. Take off the rose colored glasses and try to cope with the reality that your ilk are a microscopic fraction of the overall player base modern RPGs are trying to appeal to. If you can't, go play something else rather than childishly review bombing every FF or other RPG title that deigns to bring in action elements. Now for those of you giving 10's... you're not very bright either. Some of you are just boring white knights trying to offset the 0's. Others have no concept of how point based rating scales work, and think a 10 means "I enjoyed it". Your feedback is worthless. Only a handful of video games come anywhere near 10, just like only a handful of Olympic performances have been so close to perfection as to deserve one. Rate honestly.

    That said, here's my opinion: On its own, this is a good game, but not great. As a Final Fantasy title, this does not crack top 5, and top 10 is arguable. First the good stuff: Beautiful graphics, highly detailed environments, some of the best voice acting and original scores not just in FF history, but all of gaming. The story is not terrible, you do at least want to see what happens next and delve into the lore of this realm. Clive is a top five protagonist, a welcome change from all the teen angst. He feels more like Terra than Tidus or Squall, which is great. This Cid is the best Cid ever, and finally the character gets a central role in the story from the beginning rather than his usual "guy who fixes the airship" role in the second half. Mid is a much better twist on the engineer's legacy than Cindy, the Daisy Duke + Cooter mashup in FF15.

    Now the bad stuff: The story and characters are way too similar to FF14. They didn't even bother creating a new character model for Clive; they just used the generic hero of darkness warrior from all the FF14 promos. Ultima is an uncloaked Ascian. Biggs, Wedge, Ysayle and Estinian/Aymeric had their names changed to Gav, Goetz, Jill and Dion with hardly any variation on their personalities or backstories. Primals (ahem Eikons) pull aether to manifest, only through those with the innate power to channel it, and those who can't become tempered (err Akashic). The city states are almost mirror images of those in FF14, from the Holy See (I mean Holy Empire) with its dragoons to the free city of Ul-dah (oopsie Kanver) in the desert with its merchant council maintaining neutrality. I know the FF franchise reuses town names, imperial conquest, eco-disaster, and character archetypes as readily as bringing back the same Espers, Primals, Eikons or whatever the hell those transformers things were in FF13, but this is a bridge too far... way too unoriginal to be praised as a fresh new fantasy world to be explored. Once again SE fails to learn from mistakes and creates a large, semi-open world just to fill it with random reskinned enemies and resource nodes. No secret dungeons, no incentive to wander off the beaten path and explore until the Hunt Board tells you there will be something in one of those empty map sections. Again, feels way too much like an MMORPG, and not in a good way. The same applies to the MMO style fetch quests in the first half of the game... uninteresting and don't really even try to help develop the characters, lest they leave some key narrative untold in optional content. There has to be something in between killing boars and every sidequest discovering a new playable character, though. All Yoshi needs to do is go talk to his SE colleagues who designed DQ11 to learn how it's done, because just porting FF14 fetch quests is lazy. Combat is too easy, even if you take manual control and execute the combos yourself ala Elden Ring... it's fluid and beautiful, but it lacks the heart racing tension of missing a key mechanic and suffering actual consequences. Right up to the final boss, you can just hit a self-heal ability and power through, ignoring any mechanic you like while being invulnerable during animations.

    Overall, I gave it an 7, which I think is generous. I started with 6, but gave it a bonus because it isn't some rich kid whose backstory I know nothing about driving around the countryside in a black space Rolls with his entourage for some reason, occasionally pulling off to have some ramen from the in-game Cup Noodle commercial or club baby seals for leather. At least SE learned something.    … Expand
  11. jhart24
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    Good game overall. Shouldn't be hard to actually flesh out the RPG elements, exploration, world map, side quests, mini games, and epic dungeons with the budget Square has though. Like, you can change your game and update the combat but there's no excuse for not developing all those other things. Fun game though, combat and story are good, which again they should be with the budget they have.
  12. Ander_
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    The game is flashy and grand in its cutscene and boss battle, but apart from that, it's very classic in term of game design. Classic in the mean of many boring fetch quests and the format of cutscene-corridor-cutscene-corridor-fight. It's more similar to FF13 in term of design, but with better boss battle and world setting. Ff16 is extremely linear, to the point that they should just makeThe game is flashy and grand in its cutscene and boss battle, but apart from that, it's very classic in term of game design. Classic in the mean of many boring fetch quests and the format of cutscene-corridor-cutscene-corridor-fight. It's more similar to FF13 in term of design, but with better boss battle and world setting. Ff16 is extremely linear, to the point that they should just make it a level base game like dmc or bayonetta instead. Is it final fantasy ? Kind of, it has the world, setting, tone and character, but not the gameplay characteristic. It's ok to move on from turn base, but a JRPG, or RPG in general, have to provide player with ability to make choices, in term of story or gameplay using its mechanic, team, quest, and so on. FF16 lacks that completely. I find FF got stuck in a limbo, half of it want to grow into an action game, half of it still want to keep tie with the FF name, and the result is wierd. Action-wise, it's just ok and not excelent. Rpg wise, it's weak. The only good thing remains after finish is the great cutscene, but if that's all you like, it's better to watch a movie instead.… Expand
  13. Voodoo123
    Jun 27, 2023
    7
    At its best this is an superb quality action RPG with 40+ hrs of playtime and some frankly amazing realtime cutscenes and animations with superior art designs and soundtrack.
    At its worst it struggles to keep pace with its core storyline instead forcing players through slow long periods of drawn out fetch quest style of mission design complete with poorly animated dialogue sequences for    At its best this is an superb quality action RPG with 40+ hrs of playtime and some frankly amazing realtime cutscenes and animations with superior art designs and soundtrack.
    At its worst it struggles to keep pace with its core storyline instead forcing players through slow long periods of drawn out fetch quest style of mission design complete with poorly animated dialogue sequences for the sake of fulfilling its 'world building' RPG quota.

    If I could use Odin's sword to slice out the poorly paced areas of this title and instead keep the action and cinematics (and cut the large open areas that slow down your progress) and tighten things into a 30hr play window I think this could've been awesome. As it goes its very good if you can filter out the bad. I loved so much of this game but I must say it felt like it dragged its heels at many points throughout my time with it.    … Expand
  14. BrettScr1
    Jul 12, 2023
    7
    As always with Final Fantasy games, the music, story, and characters are top notch, with beautiful visuals and textures and well-designed enemies. The environments are varied, and there was just enough exploration to keep them interesting despite being a linear game. At its core, though, there are really only two aspects to this game, the story (told primarily through cut scenes) and theAs always with Final Fantasy games, the music, story, and characters are top notch, with beautiful visuals and textures and well-designed enemies. The environments are varied, and there was just enough exploration to keep them interesting despite being a linear game. At its core, though, there are really only two aspects to this game, the story (told primarily through cut scenes) and the combat (character action game combat with relatively few RPG elements and only one playable character). For me, many of the battles were more long and drawn out than they were challenging and rewarding, the enemies were just a bit too samey with little need to change up strategies, and the excessive particle effects made some battles a strain to my eyes. Overall, this was a good game for me, but not a great one.… Expand
  15. venzoah
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Some of the design choices in the game are downright insulting. The "Active Time Lore" is basically a rebrand of XIII's data logs that are just a very lazy way to deliver a narrative to the player. The mundane slog of fetch quests with the really basic character animations are very FF14 A Realm Reborn esque. The game takes control away from the player at the peak of action with EikonSome of the design choices in the game are downright insulting. The "Active Time Lore" is basically a rebrand of XIII's data logs that are just a very lazy way to deliver a narrative to the player. The mundane slog of fetch quests with the really basic character animations are very FF14 A Realm Reborn esque. The game takes control away from the player at the peak of action with Eikon fights featuring ridiculously long QTE windows. Most of the RPG mechanics were stripped out with almost no itemization or depth to character progression. The result is a very generic action game.… Expand
  16. 17_jrpg
    Jun 23, 2023
    6
    FF16 will certainly not meet the expectations of all long-time FF fans because FF16 is completely different from what FF used to be. For newcomers, who are not too familiar with the FF series, this game will surely be just some interesting new action game for them to play.

    What is seen in FF16 is a major departure from FF roots as previous FF games were turn-based/command-based RPGs    FF16 will certainly not meet the expectations of all long-time FF fans because FF16 is completely different from what FF used to be. For newcomers, who are not too familiar with the FF series, this game will surely be just some interesting new action game for them to play.

    What is seen in FF16 is a major departure from FF roots as previous FF games were turn-based/command-based RPGs (FF1-10, 12, 13). FF15 was the first to start in this direction, but FF16 completely abandoned the FF roots & became, as the developers say: "the first official action game in the main FF series."

    The first thing everyone will notice is that FF16 has a very similar battle system to Devil May Cry, but that's because Ryota Suzuki is the battle designer who was responsible for creating the battle system in DMC5. This is why FF16 looks & feels like you're playing a hack & slash game. The battle system has a very simple strategy which is to dodge & attack, when the enemy becomes "stagger" it becomes very vulnerable in a short time & then you need to smash the buttons to deal as much damage as possible to the enemy. Some enemies have a lot of HP & the battle can last quite a long time. There are also no classic party members, you can only control Clive & give orders to Torgal, who in most cases act automatically, while all the others who temporarily join the battle are completely controlled by the AI.

    Other aspects of the gameplay are nothing special. FF16 does not have the mini-games that previous FF games had. There are a lot of side quests, but they are not particularly interesting because they are very similar to those from MMORPGs like FF14 in that you mostly go from point A to point B, sometimes to point C & back to point A or B, but sometimes maybe to point D. The Hunt system is identical to that of FF12. FF16 has very poor RPG elements, which makes it feel more like an action (hack & slash) game than an RPG.

    The story is very well written & interesting, there are some confusing parts, but as the developers said: "Active Time Lore gives the player all the necessary information if there are any doubts about the story." The characters are also very interesting. After finishing the game, I got the impression that the story of FF16 is like a reimagined story of FF13. Clives is like l'Cie, Dominants are like fal'Cie & the main antagonist is like Bhunivelza. All those who have played the entire FF13 series (FF13, 13-2 & Lightning Returns) will surely notice the similarities, especially when they see the ending which is very similar to the one from Lightning Returns. The only major difference between the two stories is that FF16 is a medieval fantasy about a single hero, & FF13 is a sci-fi fantasy about a group of heroes. Also, the difference is that FF16 has better storytelling than FF13.

    Other aspects of FF16 such as graphics, design & music are excellent so there is nothing special to add here.

    So the conclusion is that FF16 is a good game but it has some flaws. I personally don't find the battle system that appealing because I'm used to the main FF series being an evolution of the turn-based/command-based battle system. The story & characters are great, the flaw is that it is focused on one hero, while all the other characters are just NPCs. Previous FF games have always been about a group of heroes (warriors of light) that the player can control & that are not just NPCs. There are a lot of nostalgic elements in FF16 that are a reference to previous FF games. That nostalgia is most likely to attract long-time FF fans to play FF16 because newcomers won't understand those references.

    So some long-time FF fans will most likely not be very satisfied because they will notice the flaws, while for newcomers FF16 will certainly be new & exciting game.    … Expand
  17. Diablorate
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    It fails to deliver at many points and the main one is performance which is atrocious, it kinda feels scammy that they did implement performance mode which should be 60 fps but in fact it's 30-40 for the majority of time.
  18. visiblelight7
    Aug 9, 2023
    6
    As a 36 year old who played FF7 to FF10 , the demo had gave me hope this game was going to bring back the ''feels'' and yes it did but only superficially and perhaps 50% of it. It shines in it's music and visuals and EXCELLENT story-telling. Even the cast and characters are well done but the game feels like an empty shell. The towns look good on the outside but there is no interiors toAs a 36 year old who played FF7 to FF10 , the demo had gave me hope this game was going to bring back the ''feels'' and yes it did but only superficially and perhaps 50% of it. It shines in it's music and visuals and EXCELLENT story-telling. Even the cast and characters are well done but the game feels like an empty shell. The towns look good on the outside but there is no interiors to the buildings. There is nothing there to explore. The world has no exploration. I love that they didn't go ''open-world". I was so relieved about it, it was a great decision. However, there's also a fine balance of mystery which is completely lacking from the world. There is no exploration because the world is simply a shell to progress the story. It lacks substance. Do you remember Final Fantasy 7's overworld and sense of mystery? Forget that. There's no ''extratowns'' which are there for you to uncover a mystery, find new camarades to adventure with. All this game does right is 1) Story-telling 2) Voice acting 3)Music 4)Ambiance of old-school final fantasy. That's amazing but that's also only 50-60% of a masterpiece. You are still left with frenetic combat with too many spell particles, no depth at all. It's just not satisfying and becomes boring fast. I promise you after 15-20 hours, you will be sick of the combat. Final fantasy 16 is a great 10 hour experience until you realize that it's not bringing you to the next-level. Your anticipations are crushed. You realize all you are going to do is try to mindnumbingly go through from A to B just so you can see the story unfold in it's greatness but sadly that's not enough. It only temporarily or momentarily capture the ''magic'' of Final fantasy 7,8,9,10 but very short-lived and I really think they nailed 60% of it and did a 10/10 job on those(such as story-telling)...but everything else is just there as a shell. It's sadly so boring I am contemplating skipping everything now. I don't find the repetitive combat any fun anymore. I just want to hear the story it has to tell...I'm considering using youtube for all that. That's what Final Fantasy 16 is for me. I regret spending 103$ canadian for it. I wish I was more patient , that's just too much money but I wanted to support the publisher to tell them they were going in the right direction. Sadly, being in the right direction doesn't mean much when 50% of your game lacking the greatness that was at hand. They needed to build DEEPER story intertwind with DEEPER cities, overworld , MORE MYSTERIES.
    Why they cannot recreate the epicness of Final fantasy 7,8,9 ? It's not just the mediocre combat either. There's something substantial missing about the world exploration....and no I don't mean useless fetch-quests or tedious side-quests that waste your time for hours like most open worlds do(which it avoided)...We needed a spaceship and a world that opens to you which have their own cast of characters to ''find''(Remember FF7? NO not the re-make for Gen-Z adhd).    … Expand
  19. rmcrom
    Jun 23, 2023
    5
    There's more time watching cutscenes than actual getting to play the game. And the cutscenes can't be skipped. This is the first final fantasy I have bought and I will not buy any more.
  20. Slimester
    Jun 23, 2023
    6
    The great:

    It’s a lot better than FFXIII and XV There are epic action set-pieces and memorable boss fights galore, some of which are up there with the best in the entire series. The lore is comprehensive and expressed in meticulous detail. The real-time look-up feature during cutscenes is an ingenious mechanic, certainly one of those concepts which will have left other developers    The great:

    It’s a lot better than FFXIII and XV

    There are epic action set-pieces and memorable boss fights galore, some of which are up there with the best in the entire series.

    The lore is comprehensive and expressed in meticulous detail. The real-time look-up feature during cutscenes is an ingenious mechanic, certainly one of those concepts which will have left other developers wishing they had thought of it.

    The soundtrack is an immediate all-time great, one of if not the game’s strongest aspect.

    Feels very polished overall, no bugs for me thus far and consistent and smooth performance is maintained throughout.

    The good:

    The story is rich and compelling, if not overly original.

    Enjoyable combat system; nothing groundbreaking but it is fast, refined and responsive.

    Grand in scale and scope, visually arresting at times but the art direction can also appear bland and outdated.

    Voice acting is decent.

    The not-so-good:

    Generic characters spouting their usual corny dialogue, this one really has a medieval soap opera-feel about it. Perhaps they sound better when speaking in Japanese but something tells me otherwise.

    The game in general feels somewhat bloated; progression is less dynamic than in some previous instalments, which is especially concerning considering that it’s not even open world in nature.

    An overly westernised tone; feels too reminiscent of series such as The Witcher or Game of Thrones for example. Final Fantasy at the peak of its powers was the influencer, but it appears as though the opposite is in fact now the case.

    The bad:

    Mindless and banal fetch quests, and by mindless I do mean FFVII remake levels of mundaneness.

    Far too easy, with what felt like a virtually non-existent difficulty increase as things progressed.

    Visually the game is overly dark, so dark in fact that it regularly becomes a distraction if not a detriment - especially when inside.

    This is not FFVII. Has done absolutely nothing to revolutionise the series, let alone the genre, and its legacy come the end of the 9th generation won’t be anything significant in my opinion.    … Expand
  21. Insert_Carrot
    Jul 20, 2023
    5
    Final Fantasy 16 is not a bad game, but it's also not a good game, and crucially, it's everything I don't want from a FF game. Bloated cut scenes, shallow combat, minimal and essentially pointless RPG elements such as leveling up and weapon upgrades and a boring story filled with too many characters that I do not care about.

    On a positive note, the game runs well, it's a very pretty    Final Fantasy 16 is not a bad game, but it's also not a good game, and crucially, it's everything I don't want from a FF game. Bloated cut scenes, shallow combat, minimal and essentially pointless RPG elements such as leveling up and weapon upgrades and a boring story filled with too many characters that I do not care about.

    On a positive note, the game runs well, it's a very pretty game and the music is excellent. In fact the music might be my favourite thing about it. Can't fault it. But that's about all the nice things I have to say about the game.

    The gameplay loop for much of this game is as follows; run along an empty corridor for a few minutes heading in the direction of a way point, get to waypoint, cut scene begins. Cut scene lasts for ten minutes and has zero interactive elements. Control is returned so you can smush a handful of pathetically weak baddies and one tank who is also easy, but takes ages to kill... all of this is dealt with by hammering the square button, interspersed with the occasional dodge or use of special power... then back to hammering square while you wait for your special abilities to recharge. Then you get another corridor or cut scene. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

    Cut scenes consist of weirdly stiff and awkward character animations, poor camera framing, and bland, overly written dialogue with very little substance. I think the worst thing about the cliched dialogue is how smug it all feels. Bloated, cliche-riddled pseudo-poetic nonsense. Characters you barely know will go on and on about their tedious backstory for way, way too long while stirring music builds in an effort to force you to feel some sort of emotion or connection, with all the subtlety of a brick to the face. Most of the cut scenes in this game are like having somebody grab you by the shoulders whilst screaming "feel something!" directly into your face. I can't say that I appreciated it.

    It's a forgettable story about warring nations, magical crystals (seriously Squenix, you can stop with the crystals at this point) and a band of rugged heroes battling to save the people by murdering the **** out of a whole lot of people. It's a bit more complicated than that, but not by a lot. Game of Thrones comparisons can be found all over the internet, probably because of all the scenes with olde worlde maps and little pieces representing armies being moved around by various factions, cut scenes prefaced with "meanwhile, in a far away land..." showing the game's numerous two-dimensional cartoonishly simplistic villains chuckling evilly whilst discussing their painfully dull plans for world domination and power mongering... things of this nature litter the game. Honestly calling it a game feels misleading as so much of it is just watching cut scenes.

    There are a million other things that I could rant about (the side quests, item collection, upgrades and leveling, the number of times the game hands control back to you just so that you can press a button or two only to be dRaGgEd BaCk InTo MORE cUt ScEnEs... my god) but I'll refrain. I can't say that I truly hated FF16, because it's a pretty game that functions as intended, and it's obviously well liked by a lot of people, but I was bored whilst playing it and now, reflecting back on it, I'm sad. I really, really wanted to like this game, but I just didn't. I'm probably getting grumpy with old age, perhaps my soul is dying. Who knows? All I know is that I did not connect with this game on any level, and I'm bummed about it. All of the crazy people giving this bland and shallow nonsense a perfect score... I wish I was there with you, drinking the Kool Aid and having a grand old time, but I'm not. I'm going to pour myself some hard brown liquor and maybe download some of those shiny remasters of the first six FF games and play those instead, and pray to the gaming gods that I haven't gotten so old and bitter that I can't enjoy those anymore either. Fingers crossed.    … Expand
  22. TheMan2
    Jul 29, 2023
    5
    Just finished the game with all quests done and hunting after more than a month.It was very painful. Honestly, it felt good to be in this world. I remember being at Martha’s inn and thinking ”this is nice” (because of the music, lighting etc.). The main story was enjoyable but not ground breaking. Some of the side stories were enjoyable as well BUT 100% of them were ruined by the fact thatJust finished the game with all quests done and hunting after more than a month.It was very painful. Honestly, it felt good to be in this world. I remember being at Martha’s inn and thinking ”this is nice” (because of the music, lighting etc.). The main story was enjoyable but not ground breaking. Some of the side stories were enjoyable as well BUT 100% of them were ruined by the fact that they always ended in a fetch quest or a lame combat encounter.
    Speaking of combat, when you finish the tutorial 1 hour or 2 in, you’ve seen everything. You get flashier moves for sure but the game doesn’t get more mecanics. The game systems in general are a disaster, indie game levels kind of disaster! Be it loot, crafting, quest design, skills, everything is garbage.
    The world, although engaging, is also shalow. All the big buldings and towns are just decoration. You never get to explore more than 2 or 3 streets, and this is in the very best case scenario.
    It frustrating because the game keeps remind you of great things from previous titles (big cities, magic, dungeons, character parties, ships and so on) but none of those thing are in the actual game.
    I honnestly don’t understand how the game has 80+ scores. As an rpg, it’s bad and as an action game it’s mid at best. Don’t even compare it to DMC.
    Anyway, at this point I’m no longer expecting SE to produce the kind of FF’s I liked or FF’s that are not half backed. But who knows. See you in FF7R 2 I guess    … Expand
  23. HopeLastReward
    Jul 23, 2023
    7
    Algo que ha caracterizado los videojuegos de los ultimos años es el relleno para hacer que los videojuegos duren mas y Final Fantasy XVI no es la excepcion fuera de las misiones secundarias hay algunas principales que tambien lo parecen y se diente que hacen perder tu tiempo, en cuanto a la historia principal los personajes no son de los que te encariñas y los mejores son los villanos queAlgo que ha caracterizado los videojuegos de los ultimos años es el relleno para hacer que los videojuegos duren mas y Final Fantasy XVI no es la excepcion fuera de las misiones secundarias hay algunas principales que tambien lo parecen y se diente que hacen perder tu tiempo, en cuanto a la historia principal los personajes no son de los que te encariñas y los mejores son los villanos que desafortunadamente despues de derrotarlos ya no siguen en el juego, la jugabilidad parece hack and slash pero no se siente tan lleno de posibilidades como un devil may cry/bayonetta esto cambia rn la recta final cuando ya cuentas con todos los poderes, la historia esta bien pero pudo ser mejor aprovechada si hubieran mas personajes jugables al menos 1 por cada reino pero bueno lo mejor del juego son sus cinematicas y el soundtrack utilizado en estas aqui esta lo epico inclusive las batallas de las invocaciones estan igual de epicas, si bien no me gusto tanto el juego si pulen o mejoran la secuela sin dudas jugaria el XVII… Expand
  24. Udr
    Jul 29, 2023
    7
    Final fantasy is awesome in important moment of the story. But, after… This is not a final fantasy. This is not a RPG
    Fake utility of gils, exp, exploration, équipement, craft…
    You can avoid everything, run face of you to thé end, you’ll never need anything.
    The gameplay ? Like DMC, but with One weapon and 4 spell ; boring
  25. soooB
    Jul 25, 2023
    7
    Decent story tempered by bland, repetitive side quests. Doesn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game, more like an homage to one, just shoehorning in some of the names and enemies. Engine is excellent and sadly the only real glitch I had was it hanging during one of the final battles of the game (probably 10 minutes into the fight) . If this is the last numbered FF game it'll be a realDecent story tempered by bland, repetitive side quests. Doesn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game, more like an homage to one, just shoehorning in some of the names and enemies. Engine is excellent and sadly the only real glitch I had was it hanging during one of the final battles of the game (probably 10 minutes into the fight) . If this is the last numbered FF game it'll be a real shame as this is the most mediocre one I can remember since one of the bland FF11 games or FF10-2.… Expand
  26. Bigboss_3zoz
    Sep 11, 2023
    7
    Square keeps playing with the formula until the game lost its identity.
    Unfortunately there is no RPG elements in the game anymore Weak exploration Weak customization Button mashing fights that are repetitive, I no more put any thoughts in the fights like a real Final Fantasy game
    Really disappointed of hoe square keeps experimenting in the game while they had the winning formula
  27. xabbott
    Sep 7, 2023
    6
    Great visuals, sound, and overall presentation. However, the gameplay is pretty basic, it's a simple action game. Even if you aren't good at real time combat, you'll be fine if you spam dodge and avoid stepping in fire. The bigger issue is the story and characters were like a basic cable version of Game of Thrones. The boss fights are awesome and one of the only reasons I kept going. I didGreat visuals, sound, and overall presentation. However, the gameplay is pretty basic, it's a simple action game. Even if you aren't good at real time combat, you'll be fine if you spam dodge and avoid stepping in fire. The bigger issue is the story and characters were like a basic cable version of Game of Thrones. The boss fights are awesome and one of the only reasons I kept going. I did every quest and every side quest. A lot of the side quest are bad but some of them are the only good quest in the entire game. I enjoyed FF15 and FF7R more than this and I would only recommend this to die hard FF fans.… Expand
  28. Thanos616
    Sep 9, 2023
    6
    I really do not understand, why user and critic review are so high. This game is for me, the worst game in FF saga I ever played. The graphics is awful and old, in some occasions it is a dissaster, I could close my eyes and pretend that visual doesn't matter to me, but what I can't really stand is horrible combat system, I don't know how they could release something like that, it's boringI really do not understand, why user and critic review are so high. This game is for me, the worst game in FF saga I ever played. The graphics is awful and old, in some occasions it is a dissaster, I could close my eyes and pretend that visual doesn't matter to me, but what I can't really stand is horrible combat system, I don't know how they could release something like that, it's boring and repetitive as hell. The only one thing I really love about this game is boss fights, and great story, but gameplay and visual is horrible disaster.… Expand
  29. Lukishere
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    I love FF from the very beginning, don't get me wrong - I like this game BUT sometimes feels empty and the copy pasted sidequests are really a issue... I love the story, lore and music! I hope in the future with the DLCs they could improve performance and add more value! :)
  30. BigKidPlays
    Sep 9, 2023
    6
    The demo was the best part of the game in hindsight. The rest of the game is so slow, with so many cut scenes, dialogues, long mission completed screens, slow traversal, etc, and it's all made worse by so much filler and useless side quests. Somewhere in here is a decent story (but with a lacklustre ending) with some fun, mindless combat but it's just bogged down in a slog of content thatThe demo was the best part of the game in hindsight. The rest of the game is so slow, with so many cut scenes, dialogues, long mission completed screens, slow traversal, etc, and it's all made worse by so much filler and useless side quests. Somewhere in here is a decent story (but with a lacklustre ending) with some fun, mindless combat but it's just bogged down in a slog of content that doesn't matter. And yes the side quests are that bad... some of the worst I've ever seen. The positives of the game just can't outdo the negatives.… Expand
  31. Patio_Brian
    Sep 9, 2023
    6
    Pros:
    - amazing graphics and cinematics
    - thrillingly epic boss battles - enjoyable, action heavy combat system - some nice music Cons: - boring world and characters - generic and predictable story - boring and repetitive missions and mini dungeons - boring artistic design with dull colour palette I was really looking forward to this new chapter in the Final Fantasy series. The last game    Pros:
    - amazing graphics and cinematics
    - thrillingly epic boss battles
    - enjoyable, action heavy combat system
    - some nice music

    Cons:
    - boring world and characters
    - generic and predictable story
    - boring and repetitive missions and mini dungeons
    - boring artistic design with dull colour palette I was really looking forward to this new chapter in the Final Fantasy series. The last game was refreshingly different but enjoyable and I hoped this new game would continue the tradition. I thought that the medieval setting and the mature rating were good signs and so I allowed myself to get my hopes up for the game. Even the early reviews of the game were all positive, so I purchased the game ready for an excellent experience.

    It started out strong with an impressive opening and I was impressed by its new action heavy battle system. But then after a few hours playing the game's incredibly dreary tone and boring characters began to get to me. I found it hard to emotionally invest in such flat characters and so the actions in the world all had less impact. Despite the game constantly showing off the horrors of its world, the dull characters prevented me from feeling the intended emotions. My hope was that if I kept playing either the tone would lighten up or at least the characters would become more interesting. But that did not happen and I finished the game feeling underwhelmed, despite a fun and epic final boss battle. This game reminded me about how important decent writing is for a game that has a play time of over 30 hours.    … Expand
  32. SamuraiEdgeplay
    Jul 19, 2023
    7
    It's ok. It's not the spawn of satan that's killed the beloved RPG game line Final Fantasy. It's also not the perfect 10/10 God given gift brought to you by Yoshida P. It's an incredibly easy character action game with a Final Fantasy skin with a myriad of pacing issues, useless side quests, barebones RPG mechanics, vapid npcs that accompany you in combat to do window dressing for damage,It's ok. It's not the spawn of satan that's killed the beloved RPG game line Final Fantasy. It's also not the perfect 10/10 God given gift brought to you by Yoshida P. It's an incredibly easy character action game with a Final Fantasy skin with a myriad of pacing issues, useless side quests, barebones RPG mechanics, vapid npcs that accompany you in combat to do window dressing for damage, nothing to look forward to while progressing/skilling up... yet it sounds incredible, looks fantastic, is well made AT LAUNCH, and offers a better action combat experience than its predecessors in the Final Fantasy line (despite me liking 15 better honestly).

    I'll never prefer this over FF games with actual RPG mechanics, but you can't say they didn't create a solid experience out the gate (unlike the beautiful, hot mess that was FF15). The ultimate kicker? No tonberries or cactuars. Wait for this to go on sale for like $30 it's not worth the $70 price tag.    … Expand
  33. Kalnivia
    Jul 11, 2023
    7
    100% complete. The overall gameplay and main story is fantastic, probably 8-9/10. Unfortunately it's let down by subpar side quests and far too easy mob fights. The RPG side is the worst part of the game which is odd for an FF game, albeit FFXV had the same issue, although even the gameplay didn't make up for it there.

    All you need to know is the highs are incredibly high and the lows are    100% complete. The overall gameplay and main story is fantastic, probably 8-9/10. Unfortunately it's let down by subpar side quests and far too easy mob fights. The RPG side is the worst part of the game which is odd for an FF game, albeit FFXV had the same issue, although even the gameplay didn't make up for it there.

    All you need to know is the highs are incredibly high and the lows are mid at best.    … Expand
  34. SkateWitches---
    Jul 9, 2023
    6
    A Great story can do miracles and boy does this game need one, ffxvi is very polished on the general side of things but the gameplay is a bit underwhelming, the start is very heavy on the button-mashing side of the action genreand while it does get better later in the game, the whole hack and slash thing still feels a bit immature, this is the first ff dedicated purely to action and itA Great story can do miracles and boy does this game need one, ffxvi is very polished on the general side of things but the gameplay is a bit underwhelming, the start is very heavy on the button-mashing side of the action genreand while it does get better later in the game, the whole hack and slash thing still feels a bit immature, this is the first ff dedicated purely to action and it shows, and yes i know there's rpg stuff in it but saying that ffxvi is an rpg is like saying that rdr2 is an rpg, it has a bit of customization on the equipment you use but there's little reason to pick something other than the thing with the highest stats, and progression is very easy and very "fake", you complete a mission go back to the hobby and buy the new best thing that the shop offers, and that's it for the whole game, companions are there just because it wouldn't make sense narratively for them not to fight, they don't make any difference and they all fight the same. I Don't know if it's just me but I also feel like all enemies felt the same, only divided in 2 categories, big enemies and small enemies, I never found myself forced to adopt a new strategy during a fight, I just combod the same attacks against every enemy, and it worked, aaaand at last a very disappointing thing for me were the eikon fights, just gimmicky and laughably easy, clearly meant to look cool rather than to be a mechanic.
    I guess the experience in general wasn't too awful but it was carried by the outstanding narrative, everything else felt very underwhelming.    … Expand
  35. Pacmania
    Jul 12, 2023
    7
    At times I felt that I was not playing the game that others had reviewed. I had a good time but nothing more, the secondary missions were a bit strange, it got repetitive (because of the change to an action rpg maybe) and it never managed to captivate me. This without counting some issues that are related to the operation of the console.
  36. Kongming00
    Jul 19, 2023
    5
    This was really hard to review. As a lover of ALL rpgs, something just feels so generic. And don’t get me started how it still hurts my eyes even with motion blur off…
    Story- 7
    Gameplay-6 Graphics- 5 Sound - 7 World - 6 Replay -1 Story was generic european nonsense. Some of the characters are loveable. But most just fade into bg. I dont remember any of the non mains. I have played and    This was really hard to review. As a lover of ALL rpgs, something just feels so generic. And don’t get me started how it still hurts my eyes even with motion blur off…
    Story- 7
    Gameplay-6
    Graphics- 5
    Sound - 7
    World - 6
    Replay -1

    Story was generic european nonsense. Some of the characters are loveable. But most just fade into bg. I dont remember any of the non mains. I have played and loved every FF game. Some more than others. But this was just a slog to get through. First time I have skipped a cutscene because I just didnt care…

    Gameplay was epic in the summon battles. Great in boss battles. Everything else was so easy and boring a 3 year old could beat it.

    Graphics. Muddy. Blurry even with blur off! Why do the field areas look like ps3? And the frame drops are reaaaallllyy bad

    Sound is great. Music is great in the battles. Everywhere else is generic

    World. Again some great inside areas. All the outside areas look like ps3 and blurry. Replay. Never again. I wanted it to be over with how generic the battles were. Such a waste of time. Cant wait to get back to FF7 rebirth.    … Expand
  37. Zoddy
    Jul 20, 2023
    7
    The story and the gameplay are really good. However there are some issues regarding the rythm of the game and the optional content. Regarding the former, after a main boss you are forced to do pointless and repetitive quests the are boring; for the latter, secondary quests are too simple and too similar to each other.
  38. Fragmaster5000
    Jul 11, 2023
    5
    Just does not like a classic FF game to me anymore. The game in itself is fine, but surely is not FF to me anymore.
  39. Redrumi
    Jul 19, 2023
    6
    I don't know why people keep saying its original or brave new direction when its basically a watered down version of the Witcher and other much better action rpgs. And that description is generous. Also most of the character facial design, especially for the female characters, are awful and all look alike. Save time and just watch the cutscenes on youtube. Then Xenoblade instead if youI don't know why people keep saying its original or brave new direction when its basically a watered down version of the Witcher and other much better action rpgs. And that description is generous. Also most of the character facial design, especially for the female characters, are awful and all look alike. Save time and just watch the cutscenes on youtube. Then Xenoblade instead if you want a epic rpg with great combat and a full party of characters to care about.… Expand
  40. Spaceycakey1987
    Jul 21, 2023
    6
    Great story and graphics with weak weapon and end game side content disappointed at lack of party and weapon options crafting system is overly basic and hunt system is 1 of the weakest in the franchise theres no lore or anything unique to any of them there just reskined mobs you fight during the story with an extra move unlike past games like gilgamesh from ff12 or adamantoise from ff15Great story and graphics with weak weapon and end game side content disappointed at lack of party and weapon options crafting system is overly basic and hunt system is 1 of the weakest in the franchise theres no lore or anything unique to any of them there just reskined mobs you fight during the story with an extra move unlike past games like gilgamesh from ff12 or adamantoise from ff15 ect combat revolves around spamming abilities on a timer enemy's have no weakness and theres no status effects elemental buffs and weakness at all the verity of mobs is also lacking compared to past entrys theres no verity in weapons either just the same 1 handed sword reskined with slightly higher damage and stagger stats nothing feels unique even the ultima blade the world itself is beautifully detailed but is not worth exploring as game does reward you for doing so there is no super bosses or dungeons I would have rated lower if not for the story'main fights which are impressive but unfortunatly the game lacks the depth of others in the franchise outside of the main story with endgame now being new game plus which just ads an extra mob or two to story fights and increases level cap from 50 to 100 on a slightly higher difficulty ultimately the game looks impressive but fails in the rpg elements this franchise in known for so much so I would argue it's not an rpg at all but a character action game… Expand
  41. Thiccbob
    Jul 23, 2023
    5
    First of all, I think people should wait until they actually finish the game before rating the game a 10 or a 0 after only 6 hours of gameplay. So, I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, since first playing FFX as a kid. So it pains me to give this game such a low score. I thought the series had hit rock bottom with 15, and maybe it technically had, and while the two are very different, I feelFirst of all, I think people should wait until they actually finish the game before rating the game a 10 or a 0 after only 6 hours of gameplay. So, I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, since first playing FFX as a kid. So it pains me to give this game such a low score. I thought the series had hit rock bottom with 15, and maybe it technically had, and while the two are very different, I feel like both of them are a low point in the series.

    Tl;dr version: The game has incredibly flashy if repetitive combat, with the exception of the eikon fights which are the best parts of the game. The story gets interesting at times, but dull characters don't help make this straightforward story stand out. It's alright as a one time play through, but I don't think it will leave much of a positive impact on the franchise. It will probably go down as a very dull entry in the series.

    Longer version: The demo had me hooked on the game, especially with the way it ended. However, that demo hid the worst parts of the game: the pacing and by extension, the side quests. In between the highs of the eikon fights, which are a lot of fun and very flashy, are dull parts where you return to the hideaway and get bossed around by Mid or go around running inane errands for some random npc, even though I'm supposed to be the leader of their whole resistance, but whatever. The side quests are also basically just that. Dull fetch quests, with dull npcs. Sometimes they are interesting, but after running around delivering apples, it was clear they were going to be like that the entire game.

    As for the story, it can definitely be confusing at times. The game has a compendium where you can look up terms, people, and places, but until those places or people become major players in the story (which is like halfway through, since the first half focuses on like 2 or 3 kingdoms out of the 6 in the game) their roles in the game's world are kind of confusing. In the final leg of the game, you get an NPC, Vivian, and she has a map and goes through and explains each kingdom's motivations and what exactly they are doing at that point of the game, which is incredibly helpful, it's just a shame nobody does earlier in the game. But that leads me to my next point. Most of the characters are just so dull and they don't really feel that special. I liked Byron and Cid, but everyone else, even Clive himself, are just kind of boring. I've never cared less for characters in a Final Fantasy game than in 15. At least 15 had some cool DLC to flesh out their main cast. You get a glimpse of the main enemy after you get the first eikon, and I thought there would be more interesting developments, but there wasn't really. Yoshida's involvement was so hyped so maybe I was just spoiled by 14's amazing story, although that game had over a decade to develop its plot with amazing plot twists. There's also a lot of stuff that was interesting but never explored, like what about the lands outside of Storm and Ash? Why is Leviathan not there? What the heck happened to the Fallen?

    And then, finally, the combat. It's incredibly flashy and cool looking, but the game seems to boil down to: press R1 to doge, hit an enemy until they stagger, then use all your cooldowns at once, repeat. You get many eikon abilities, but you will mostly use phoenix and ifrit abilities the whole game, and near the end once you get Odin, Zantetsuken makes every non-boss enemy a joke. Some eikon abilities feel straight up useless, like Ramuh and Shiva. There are "Eikonic vulnerabilities" which are elemental weaknesses essentially, but it's so inconsequential that you won't even notice they are weaknesses. They also went the FF14 route where you can use fire magic on fire enemies, etc which I felt was weird. Things like weapons, armor, accessories, crafting, and leveling up felt almost entirely pointless. I used like the same 2 accessories the whole game, potion healing up and the one where dodging increases damage from attacks. Things like +10 defense or attack felt like they made no difference, and neither did any new equipment or leveling up. You unlock trials throughout the game which force you to use certain eikons, but I didn't love the combat, so I didn't finish them all. There are hunts which are a nice challenge if you are under leveled. It's a shame because I feel FF7R had the perfect balance of action RPG and classic turn based RPG elements, but they decided to go for style over subtstance with this game.

    Overall it's not terrible, but I just don't see any lasting appeal with this game. After I beat the game, I just had no desire to play it. Like ever again. I spoke with a few people who also bought the game, and they feel pretty much the same way I do. It's fun at first but really overstays it's welcome.    … Expand
  42. cid33
    Jul 24, 2023
    6
    The good? epic boss battles, amazing music, interesting story. The bad everything else. It feels like bootleg Witcher.
    Combat is repetitive and boring, way to easy with enemies having excessive hp, fighting the same 10 enemies the entire game, small enemy vith axesword, big guy with hammeraxe, flying bird, wyvern, bomb, and then some of the worst reskinre color I have encountered a AAA    The good? epic boss battles, amazing music, interesting story. The bad everything else. It feels like bootleg Witcher.
    Combat is repetitive and boring, way to easy with enemies having excessive hp, fighting the same 10 enemies the entire game, small enemy vith axesword, big guy with hammeraxe, flying bird, wyvern, bomb, and then some of the worst reskinre color I have encountered a AAA game. Boss battles consist of on the rails QTE nightmares. They do look epic tho, but this is not supposed to be a interactive movie. Sidequest and exploring feel like a chore and reward nothing but crafting materials that you craft 1 thing with at start of chapter then they pileup in inventory by the thousands. Enemies level with each chapter making leveling irrelevant as they stay at your level and you don't feel like you grow in strength. Visuals are amazing if it wasn't for choppy framerate and horrendous blur, the blur got patched tho, still sucked for half the game Animation is horrible reusing the same animation for 90% of the game, zoom in on Clive he waves hand zoom in on NPC shoulder shrug zoom to Clive reaches for camera to giveget item. Main character voice is like the town drunk woke up in the snow to cold to express or speak words instead of mumbling them. Barely showing feelings true game except for some random times in battle. The rest are good voice acting.    … Expand
  43. SpikeVexid
    Jul 11, 2023
    6
    Final Fantasy XVI é épico, a história, as batalhas com chefes... e só isso mesmo, o jogo oscila demais entre o épico e o trivial, uma hora você está tendo batalhas de proporções megalomaníacas, e em seguida, esta pegando uma erva pra um subordinado no esconderijo em que você é o chefe. As side Quests, apesar de algumas até te situarem de como está o mundo e outras melhorarem algumFinal Fantasy XVI é épico, a história, as batalhas com chefes... e só isso mesmo, o jogo oscila demais entre o épico e o trivial, uma hora você está tendo batalhas de proporções megalomaníacas, e em seguida, esta pegando uma erva pra um subordinado no esconderijo em que você é o chefe. As side Quests, apesar de algumas até te situarem de como está o mundo e outras melhorarem algum equipamento do personagem, eles tem personagens pouco interessantes e sempre envoltos em um drama que permeia toda a história de uma forma que nada te surpreende mais, o sofrimento é o mesmo pro mundo todo então tem uma hora que vc só quer que eles parem de chorar e que você avance logo pra finalizar o jogo e acabar com o sofrimento mundial. A exploração e a descoberta nos mundos incríveis de Final Fantasy também não existem mais. não existem raças ou culturas variadas, quando tem, não te surpreendem. Voltar pra um esconderijo depois de uma missão e sempre ver aquele mesmo ambiente durante toda a jornada que parece mais vc saindo de casa e voltando depois de ir no shopping,, padaria, mercado e afins, torna massante a avenura em momentos onde as batalhas épicas não estão acontecendo. Upar o Clive também se tornou uma tarefa chata, você não sente a evolução do Clive se ele não pegar um novo Eikon, e quando você tem seus preferidos e upa suas habilidades, eles tem um limite e os pontos ganhos vc pode upar habilidades que não quer usar, ou só deixar lá acumulando pra na, tentando melhorar seu dano com level que vc demora pra ganhar e nem sente diferença.
    A escolha por gráficos ao invés de expandir o jogo com um mundo maior e mais rico, armaduras diferentes, armas novas, culturas variadas e problemas diferentes, tornou este final fantasy, uma versão desidratada onde deixaram só aquilo que o povo sempre aclamou como aspectos importantes de um todo muito maior que deixaram de lado mas que fazia muita diferença olhando agora só história e gráficos isolado de ótimas mecânicas    … Expand
  44. Coralpearlz
    Jul 23, 2023
    5
    Fine action-game, but it's barely even an RPG/JRPG and feels ashamed to be an Final Fantasy title at times.
  45. BadLarry
    Jul 29, 2023
    6
    A pretty weak and forgettable entry in the core Final Fantasy series. I've through all of the numbered FF games since the first one released on NES. The good stuff first: I do enjoy the action based combat which has a crisp and quick feel like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Boss fights are particularly enjoyable and you can scale the difficulty to suit how deep you want to go. GraphicsA pretty weak and forgettable entry in the core Final Fantasy series. I've through all of the numbered FF games since the first one released on NES. The good stuff first: I do enjoy the action based combat which has a crisp and quick feel like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Boss fights are particularly enjoyable and you can scale the difficulty to suit how deep you want to go. Graphics are very good and there are some truly stunning sequences. Now on to the bad. 16 might be the most boring of the bunch outside of the huge but few cinematic clashes. You spend a lot of time in the generic swamp or grasslands fields fighting repetitive enemies. A lot of RPG elements have been stripped away to the point that there's very little use for the money that you earn in the game. Only 3 pieces of equipment with essentially only 2 stats each. Side quests are really afterthoughts that add little to the plot or universe and aren't very rewarding. I really missed having a cast of protagonists that you team up with, have their own unique stories, and you come to love as they develop. This game seems much smaller since it's really a one man show. You get temporary sidekicks but you don't have any control over them at all. The biggest gripe i have which is worth 4 points off the score alone is how the game cheats you out of really experiencing the world it's set in. The world is broken up into kingdoms each with their own mountain sized crystal shards. It's clear from a distance that the fantastical cities sprung up around these crystals. When you see the cities at a distance, you get excited to finally leave the generic wilderness that 90% of the game takes place in. Eventually you go to these crystals as part of the main plot, so you assume on the way you'll get to pass through these amazing looking cities. You'd be wrong. The first time, your allies talk of a secret tunnel to sneak in. Once you initiate that key mission, you literally warp from home base to within a stones throw of the objective, skipping over ever getting to see that city or any of the world on the way. They cut a big chunk out of the 'adventure' of this well....adventure. Kinda like Frodo and Sam setting out to Mordor and five minutes later they're there dropping the ring in Mount Doom. This was disappointing the first time. It's downright insulting that this happens every time you have a big 'mission'. There's a secret tunnel, back entrance, or mine shaft that you end up sneaking right up to the boss through and never get to see any of the locations. It's generic fields, or generic dungeons, and not much more. Almost as if the devs blew their budget on the big 'eikon' battles and didn't have any time or money to develop the rest of the world. A truly shameful design tactic.… Expand
  46. Rix91
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game tells a great story, and it does it in a visually stunning way. I cannot think of any modern game that does spectacle combat as well as FF16 does. Underneath that, however, is a really shallow game. The combat receiving so much praise has felt strange to me, because while it is beautiful and bombastic, it’s flawed in design. The stagger system encourages you to *not* use your abilities until your enemy is staggered, due to the often long cooldown times. So during boss fights, you will find yourself just smacking the boss with your sword forever while you chip away at their stagger bar so you can drop all of your big abilities at once. Rinse and repeat usually 2-3 times before the boss dies.

    The Eikon combat feels even more shallow, offering basically no challenge and instead serving as eye candy while you press one button over and over, occasionally dodging attacks or charging to the enemy. There’s no room for customization here, and I can’t help but feel like this could’ve been something more than a spectacle.

    The game feels like it’s teetering on the edge of being an action game and an RPG, but ends up lukewarm in both regards. The RPG elements are mediocre at best, and they feel sacrificed to transform the game into an action game, but it feels like they were hesitant to make the game challenging in that regard, and it suffers as a result. The shallow RPG elements, the lack of agency on how you build your character, and the flashy but simple combat keeps the majority of the game feeling like a chore to carry you from plot point to plot point, because the plot is the only thing holding this game up. It’s fantastic, with lots of twists and turns up until the very end. Unfortunately those amazing cutscenes keep getting interrupted by mediocre combat and long hallways full of forgettable enemies. The side quests feel so bland and chore-like, I can’t help but feel that the game would’ve been better off without them. There’s a few decent stories hidden in there, but across 50+ side quests, only about 10 of them felt worth doing, not including the ones that directly benefited Clive with upgrades and such. For the most part, they fall flat. I beat the game less than 12 hours ago and honestly cannot remember the majority of them.

    If you’re into a good narrative experience and don’t care how you get there, you will love this game. If you enjoy a challenge or the RPG elements that have been present in most numbered FF games to date, this game is gonna disappoint you. It feels like playing a movie.    … Expand
  47. todobramble
    Jul 29, 2023
    6
    Boss battles and music score is a 10/10. Really enjoyed the Titan boss fight. But the side quests were pointless and mind-numbingly repetitive fetch quests with dialogue that felt like it never ended.

    The story also goes downhill about midwway through the game and becomes really dull. The world itself was the biggest major disappointment. There was no attempt to make the world feel like    Boss battles and music score is a 10/10. Really enjoyed the Titan boss fight. But the side quests were pointless and mind-numbingly repetitive fetch quests with dialogue that felt like it never ended.

    The story also goes downhill about midwway through the game and becomes really dull. The world itself was the biggest major disappointment. There was no attempt to make the world feel like a lived-in world. This game is a huge step backwards for Square Enix after making FF7 Remake.

    The RPG aspect regarding gear customization and play style abilities were superficial. Doesn't matter what boss you encounter, just spam the same combos to defeat. The game is incredibly easy.    … Expand
  48. dangyosabyss
    Jul 19, 2023
    7
    It is very much aimed at Game of Thrones fans who want that feel in a video game in 2023. It does straight up steal wholesale from ASOIAF and people who have read the books will be able to guess a lot of the story. While story-wise it nails it the aesthetic is slightly off. The creators stick too closely to FF staples and paradigms to the detriment of cohesion. The grimdark subject matterIt is very much aimed at Game of Thrones fans who want that feel in a video game in 2023. It does straight up steal wholesale from ASOIAF and people who have read the books will be able to guess a lot of the story. While story-wise it nails it the aesthetic is slightly off. The creators stick too closely to FF staples and paradigms to the detriment of cohesion. The grimdark subject matter is offset by our grizzled and haunted heroes riding giant eyepatch-wearing chickens. It undermines what they were aiming for. The cuhrazay anime nonsense also undermines the tone. I have 1000 words more but for some reason metacritic keeps 403'ing when I try to post it. Detailed reviews be damned I suppose.… Expand
  49. Kailo09
    Aug 1, 2023
    7
    I'm a huge FF fan, especially of CBU3 as I have put in over 800 hours into FF14. So I went into FF16 with high expectations. The game has the highest of high's but is drastically brought down due to poor pacing and terrible side quests.

    Pros The Eikon encounters are absolutely amazing and an superb spectacle. Even some of the normal boss encounters are incredibly well done. I have no    I'm a huge FF fan, especially of CBU3 as I have put in over 800 hours into FF14. So I went into FF16 with high expectations. The game has the highest of high's but is drastically brought down due to poor pacing and terrible side quests.

    Pros
    The Eikon encounters are absolutely amazing and an superb spectacle. Even some of the normal boss encounters are incredibly well done. I have no faults with this.

    The story and quality of writing is excellent, at least for the main scenario quests. Scenes are emotional, exciting and some really great voice acting work.

    The music is top notch, classic Soken quality that I have come to expect from his work in FF14.

    Cons

    Graphics and Performance - This is a big disappointment to me with the poor frame rates and jerkiness. The developers really hyped up how the game is in a complete state and has had plenty of time for polish so I was expecting a solid 60fps experience. They definitely delivered on a bug free game though!

    The graphics are amazing but there are too many dark and muddy areas, it really reminded me of the early PS3/360 era of gaming in terms of the colour pigment. I get its a serious dark fantasy medieval tone, so I understand the choice. I just wish there was more colour to it.

    Side quests - I did about the first half of the games side quests before giving up and just skipping the rest. It was really hurting the games pacing. The pacing loop went like this:

    Build up of interesting narratives and travelling to a new area to do something important
    Epic boss fight happen with extremely amazing spectacles
    Great story cut scenes to follow that change the world and the overall situation
    Then it drops massively by going back to the hideaway, helping the locals with fixing a fence or something really mundane.

    The amount of side quests really increases as the game goes on and I was overwhelmed with green dots everywhere on the map by the end. I am sure there are some really interesting side quests within the sea of green but the sad thing was, I stopped caring. This was really sad, especially for someone who looks to complete every side quest. I gave up and kept on at the main story to avoid these drastic slow downs in the pacing.

    Combat - I enjoyed the overall combat mechanics, they were fun and engaging. However, it was sad the system couldn't accommodate things like status effects, buffs, debuffs and making it a bit more strategic. The game attempts to make use of enemies using buffs like Protect, but this is few and far between. A Marboro's bad breath, just damages you and will not give you status effects like poison and sleep.

    Crafting and Items - This is probably the weakest aspect of the game. Crafting feels absolutely pointless. You are showered with crafting items at all times and you will upgrade your gear. But its all very linear, by the numbers and ultimately pointless. I think they should have taken this feature out entirely honestly.

    I sound very negative on the game but the game makes it through to a 7 out of 10 thanks to its excellent characters, main story and spectacle of events. The pacing and RPG elements of the game really drag it down due to their poor execution and I almost wish they just made a full on action game that is 25 hours long with none of the filler and weak RPG elements.    … Expand
  50. Awwlexis
    Jul 25, 2023
    7
    Disappointing Story, Fun combat but lacks identity and depth, forgettable characters, MMO side quests.

    Story: The most generic story I've seen in a video game in some time. You could literally predict the entire outcome very early in the game. I did like the mix up by making the bigger fights radically stupid and anime in that you're literally just recreating DBZ or KLK or other    Disappointing Story, Fun combat but lacks identity and depth, forgettable characters, MMO side quests.

    Story:
    The most generic story I've seen in a video game in some time. You could literally predict the entire outcome very early in the game.

    I did like the mix up by making the bigger fights radically stupid and anime in that you're literally just recreating DBZ or KLK or other Shonen fighting moments, but in a setting that has such a realism style to it, it feels weird jarring and extremely out of place even though I overall enjoyed it as a shake up.

    The actual story itself though was full of forgettable characters, many poor voice acting performances, and nothing to remember or rave to your friends about. The only incredible voice performance was Cid and Benedikta, the rest were very average to poor.

    One of the most important character's to the story and the main love interest Jill is the most wet blanket female MC in a long time. I absolutely hate that any and all women in video games MUST be one of two things, either absolutely useless wet blanket personality or Mario Movie Princess Peach and can literally save the world by herself because she's a super OP Mary Sue. Benedikta again had more personality and I wanted to learn more about her than I did Jill. A better voice acting performance might have helped save her character some, but she has again the most generic backstory, she gets captured, spoilered, and she's otherwise just quiet and a non-character for most of the story. She is only there to bang the MC and give up the ghost to aid his suicidal quest to stop god. No "I'll fight to the death with you" nope, with the exception of like two scenes she's just as useful as Gav the scout that get's caught and half blinded in combat. What could have been a really good potential lead character was just another pixie dream girl following a suicidal loner "I must do it all, I'm special, I'm the only one who can do it" main character.

    Gameplay:
    While the combat is by far the best and most standout feature of this game, it still feels like it heavily lacks identity and that they couldn't make decisions while developing if they wanted the game to be a serious hardcore combat game or made simple to appeal to the masses of casuals. It has this weird in-between where there are some advanced mechanics, but they are clunky at best.

    Some of the core highest damaging moves that you get at the end of the game and are meant to combo into require the most awkward inputs of all time. You have to press and hold the attack button down to do one for example, but you must also first make sure your Eikon ability is toggled on, and then the hold down duration is changed by your other hold down button skill. It is the most awkward terrible keybinding of all time for what is supposed to be the ultimate strongest ability in the entire game.

    Additionally, you only get to assign 3 of the 7 eikons you unlock, removing 99% of the customization and creativity of the game. Why give us 4 abilities per eikon if you're only going to let us use 6 of them total? That is 22 cool and unique abilities you can't use ever. The combat in this game could have just gone the Devil May Cry direction and been very advanced with a toggle for simplicty making it extremely fun, or let you cycle all eikons for a blast but they instead just decided to let you use almost none of it. I get they probably decided they wanted some but not a lot of depth to fit somewhere in the middle but it just feels like the combat designers had ADHD and half implemented things rather than making up their mind one way or the other. It would have been better to give us less ability options if they were going to so severely limit us after overloading us with cool stuff.

    An example of this poorly designed middle system where they couldn't make up their mind was air combat. They give you a double jump, eikon powers to get you in the air, and air attacks and skills, but you fall at the speed of light making air combos really irritating to perform. The air attack itself is only a 3 hit combo which if you perform it, because the endlag of the last swing is so long, you drop to the ground like a brick right after with no option to maintain your height without eikon abilities or wasting both of your extra jumps just to get one extra attack before falling to the ground. It is single handedly the worst designed air combat I've seen in any combat focused game.

    Additionally, your 5 hit basic ground attack combo, NEVER CHANGES. The ENTIRE game your primary attack combo remains the exact same with the only variation to that being when you limit break. I don't understand what in their right mind didn't think to give us a main combo enhancement, change up, or even just adding a tiny bit more to the main combo. It's so boring seeing the same attacks the entire game. At least have multiple animations for the same combo.

    I'd say more but I'm out of characte    … Expand
  51. Stawkuj
    Jul 25, 2023
    6
    Story and music are great but gameplay lack what made FF series unique.

    - Elemental weakness/absorption went missing , casting fire on bombs = casting blizzard on bombs

    - No status effect , bad breath from malboro = fire breath from drake type enemies

    + Eikon battles are great and probably the best of all FFs
  52. CaballitoRojo
    Jul 10, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ni es un gran juego, ni está a la altura de la saga. No se han currado absolutamente nada. El final fantasy xv está muchísimo más currado. La gente que le pone mucha puntuación no se por que, tienen el listón muy bajo. No te creas lo que dicen los youtubers están comprados. La historia es pésima, ni se han esforzado, terminas pasando todas las parrafadas que sueltan por que dicen tonterías. Y eso que lo he puesto en acción, si llego poner historia... me muero del asco. Le pongo un 6 por los combates, gráficos.… Expand
  53. Ivan
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    finally a final fanatasy with an exciting story. perhaps excessively copied from Games of thrones but very beautiful. extraordinary graphics. Everything else is boring . even facing the most dangerous bosses there is no risk of losing. I still don't know what the game currency is for and the sense of introducing money. driven equipment. poor skill tree. you can play safely with your brainfinally a final fanatasy with an exciting story. perhaps excessively copied from Games of thrones but very beautiful. extraordinary graphics. Everything else is boring . even facing the most dangerous bosses there is no risk of losing. I still don't know what the game currency is for and the sense of introducing money. driven equipment. poor skill tree. you can play safely with your brain off. very bad for a final fantasy. not to mention that the world, even if graphically gorgeous, is poor in any activity or search for something that is unfortunately missing. the second half of the game inserts secondary missions as main ones, also breaking the rhythm of the story. one step forward and three steps back. perhaps a step up from 15 but still far from the depth of 9-10-12.… Expand
  54. Guiyerod444
    Jul 8, 2023
    6
    The game is a movie game let's make it clear. Everything relating to this is good: plot, cutscenes, characters, etc...

    Everything else is mediocre getting closer to bad. The world (as in exploration) is very boring, you cannot interact with anything but monsters and chests, the chests rarely give you anything valuable. The combat is cool however is very restricted, you can only use 2    The game is a movie game let's make it clear. Everything relating to this is good: plot, cutscenes, characters, etc...

    Everything else is mediocre getting closer to bad. The world (as in exploration) is very boring, you cannot interact with anything but monsters and chests, the chests rarely give you anything valuable.

    The combat is cool however is very restricted, you can only use 2 abilities per Eikon (elemental power) and the earlier you are into the game the less fun the combat is because you have less choices of powers. I never felt any scaling compared to enemies, all the enemies felt like hit sponges at any level and the game is easy for a person who plays games on a regular basis, I am 50 percent done and still have not died.

    Side quests are horrible fetch quests from MMO's made by MMO developers there's no way to cope this just accept they are bad. Animations during side quests are also very mediocre compared to the main story cutscenes. What's the point of making bad side quests? They are pointless just don't put them in your game, they serve no purpose at all.

    The dungeons are very badly designed, they are just basically MMO dungeons with no variety at all, hallway, room, fight hit sponge monsters and repeat. One on One boss battle and hunts are fun and I feel the combat was designed around this because it really doesn't work with mobs.

    Very average game dressed as a ''GOTY candidate'', it makes a great movie because everything that is not gameplay is very very good however if you look to the gaming aspect it's utter **** and very lazy coming from such a huge AAA company.    … Expand
  55. Rynosully
    Jul 8, 2023
    6
    Not a true Final Fantasy. If you are looking for an RPG you will be disappointed with this one. I’ve been a fan since the first Final Fantasy and at 45 years old this one is as disappointing as FFXIII was to me. Please go back to your RPG roots. This is not what I expect from a Final Fantasy experience.
  56. jonnyfiftka
    Jul 9, 2023
    6
    I think that this is a very strange game. There are parts that are good (combat, which can shine only through boss fights and some elite monsters/hunts, spectacle and music) and then there is really bad stuff (extremely dry writting, specially side quests, npc keep on talking and talking, soo many cutscenes, repetetive combat encounters, repetetive gameplay loop, non existent rpgI think that this is a very strange game. There are parts that are good (combat, which can shine only through boss fights and some elite monsters/hunts, spectacle and music) and then there is really bad stuff (extremely dry writting, specially side quests, npc keep on talking and talking, soo many cutscenes, repetetive combat encounters, repetetive gameplay loop, non existent rpg progression elements, where 9 out of 10 times you get to make new equipment you already have the items and the upgrades are so boring too.) Personaly I do not like the muted brown, gray color palete, which this game has most of the time. I get It that this is the end of the world mood, but still. This game feels like crippled FFXIV, It plays exactly the same (ofc the combat is different), exept, in FFXIV there is so many other things you can do.… Expand
  57. lebrownjeans
    Jul 15, 2023
    6
    I don't care about the weirdos giving the game 0's or 10's this game is neither. I also don't care about the "this isnt a ff game" sure it is. It just isn't a good one. It isn't even a good game in general.
    What ff16 is, is a mediocre action game by a devil may cry dev stitched together with a mmo dev that doesn't know how to make a FUN game.
    Graphics: amazing soundtrack: passable    I don't care about the weirdos giving the game 0's or 10's this game is neither. I also don't care about the "this isnt a ff game" sure it is. It just isn't a good one. It isn't even a good game in general.
    What ff16 is, is a mediocre action game by a devil may cry dev stitched together with a mmo dev that doesn't know how to make a FUN game.

    Graphics: amazing

    soundtrack: passable but totally forgettable

    combat: flashy, but entirely button mashing no matter how much to try to spice it up. Bosses and minibosses are spongey and boring once you figure out their loop and they still have 50% health left.

    story: fine i guess, the game world doesnt really make a lot of sense and the slavery thing in ineptly addressed

    gameplay: the sidequests are unbelievably terrible, the ui is bloated mmo trash, and all the rpg elements are completely pointless. no exploration, meaningless rarities, items just make damage numbers go up, no cool effects etc.

    All in all this game is flashy and beautiful but completely shallow.    … Expand
  58. Brannon44
    Jul 17, 2023
    7
    Weird game. It has so many great things and so many bad things but it has an undeniable charm and is fun to play.
  59. neqlol
    Jul 10, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Graphics account for 90% of FF16. The graphics are insanely good, but other than that, I have nothing to praise.

    Producer Yoshida and many other key staff said, "This is a dark fantasy for adults. We put the most emphasis on the story. We are very confident in this work."
    However, what I saw was an incoherent and childish story.
    The end of the story? I don't really understand, but I beat the final boss and solved it with god-like power! Maybe, maybe.
    Is this for adults? No, unless you're a child, you'll frown.
    Even the end of the hero and heroine was ambiguous. I want my dozens of hours back.

    I think it's worth the price, but honestly it's a waste of time. I recommend watching a video of someone playing.    … Expand
  60. DarkRhyme
    Jul 15, 2023
    6
    A disappointing game that could have been so much more. Some of the characters, the voice acting, the fluidity of the controls, the music, visuals and the likes are all golden. However the story itself, some of the other characters, the pacing, side quests and some of the worst itemization and rpg mechanics (or lack thereof) bog down what could have been a great game down to somethingA disappointing game that could have been so much more. Some of the characters, the voice acting, the fluidity of the controls, the music, visuals and the likes are all golden. However the story itself, some of the other characters, the pacing, side quests and some of the worst itemization and rpg mechanics (or lack thereof) bog down what could have been a great game down to something barely above mediocre.

    As the dust settles and time passes, I think more people will see the game's massive flaws hidden behind it's gorgeous facade.    … Expand
  61. valeriozaglio
    Jul 25, 2023
    5
    E niente ci ho provato ma alla fine la noia ha vinto e l'ho abbandonato a metà... Le missioni sono quanto di più piatto e ridicolo abbia trovato in un videogioco e il sistema di combattimento è solo un pigiare bottoni a più non posso, non capisco come facciano a dire che è divertentissimo, queste persone hanno mai giocato ad un Souls like? Peccato per la pessima deriva presa dalla saga cheE niente ci ho provato ma alla fine la noia ha vinto e l'ho abbandonato a metà... Le missioni sono quanto di più piatto e ridicolo abbia trovato in un videogioco e il sistema di combattimento è solo un pigiare bottoni a più non posso, non capisco come facciano a dire che è divertentissimo, queste persone hanno mai giocato ad un Souls like? Peccato per la pessima deriva presa dalla saga che ormai è completamente diversa dai capitoli che me ne hanno fatto innamorare. Credo che dopo 25 anni sia ora di mettere una pietra sopra a Finale Fantasy, molto meglio le produzioni occidentali.… Expand
  62. thegold
    Jul 14, 2023
    7
    Sometimes very pretty, somtimes very mid. Soundtrack is phenomenal. Loot/rewards/crafting is incredibly dumb and unbalanced, feels like it was added last minute. Gameplay is sooo good.
    The Eikon battles are tedious, stupid and ridiculous. You fight some bosses over and over again. Kill boss, cutscene, fight boss with full HP again, kill boss, cutscene, fight boss with full HP again    Sometimes very pretty, somtimes very mid. Soundtrack is phenomenal. Loot/rewards/crafting is incredibly dumb and unbalanced, feels like it was added last minute. Gameplay is sooo good.
    The Eikon battles are tedious, stupid and ridiculous. You fight some bosses over and over again. Kill boss, cutscene, fight boss with full HP again, kill boss, cutscene, fight boss with full HP again cutscene.... Get some new writers Yoshida!    … Expand
  63. Raul0582
    Jul 8, 2023
    6
    Bonjour .... personnellement ils bcp de défauts qui compte pour moi . Map vide mécanismes dépasser les combats répétitif. L'histoire est bien les cinématiques magnifique mais le jeu couloir est mal amené. En résumé je trouve que le jeu est largement surcote sur la presse un très moyen final qui depuis un moment n'arrive plus à trouver la recette.
  64. Rami_el_maton
    Jul 13, 2023
    5
    Es el mejor final fantasy desde el IX, la historia es muy buena, tiene un sistema de combate espectacular, unos gráficos impresionantes y es el juego con las escenas más épicas que he visto nunca.
    Compra obligatoria.
  65. Chabs1985
    Jul 26, 2023
    5
    What happens to Final Fantasy?

    Since FF10 I wonder what Square is doing with its license. FF6,7,8,9 were masterpieces. The 13 very average but I had fun but the 15 and 16 looks like discount games for the series. The 15 had at least the merit of having great music and a good design chara. The 16 fails almost everywhere, an agreed scenario try to be inspired by Game of Thrones.    What happens to Final Fantasy?

    Since FF10 I wonder what Square is doing with its license. FF6,7,8,9 were masterpieces. The 13 very average but I had fun but the 15 and 16 looks like discount games for the series.

    The 15 had at least the merit of having great music and a good design chara.

    The 16 fails almost everywhere, an agreed scenario try to be inspired by Game of Thrones. Music sometimes good but forgettable. A gameplay without depth and easy, not subtle and stupid. No alterations of states, no reflection to have. A false side rpg used to hide a linear path that makes us go from scene to scene. (well realized, we must recognize it).

    The side quests are catastrophic, the pnjs are despicable because they look like robots without souls. The chara-design is infamous, Clive is the worst main character of a Final Fantasy, his outfit is disgusting, it looks like Castlevania.

    Apart from the scenes of great shows, I found this game very poor playfully.

    I have a lot of hope with FF7 Rebirth because I loved the remake, please go in this direction for your future games. The fighting system was perfect, as was the story and the characters.    … Expand
  66. potus83
    Jul 2, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Would have gotten higher if it wasn't for the ending. I didn't want another Notcis but that's what it is. Stop killing the protagonist. Watching Joshua and Dion die was hard enough but then Clive dies alone on some stupid beach instead of old age with Jill. F that!

    Otherwise, the story and game play were great.    … Expand
  67. hypnoticVGK
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Final Fantasy Mode should be the base game difficulty; although challenging in some stages, I felt that the game was way too easy. Side missions are a great way to see more of the world, but they are repetitive and boring after a while—great story, very grounded and dark with specific themes. One of my favorite parts of the game was explaining the branded and the quests. Overall good game but after one playthrough, I felt that's all you need.… Expand
  68. Gipsojo
    Jul 27, 2023
    7
    This game has some of the most epic boss encounters I've ever played. That makes it all the more disappointing that you spend a couple of hours or more in between boss encounters doing boring fetch quests and watching people talk. The side quests are poor and I would recommend skipping them!

    I think they could have cut about 5-10 hours of fetch quests and dialogue from this game and it    This game has some of the most epic boss encounters I've ever played. That makes it all the more disappointing that you spend a couple of hours or more in between boss encounters doing boring fetch quests and watching people talk. The side quests are poor and I would recommend skipping them!

    I think they could have cut about 5-10 hours of fetch quests and dialogue from this game and it would be an 8 or 9 out of 10. As it is, Final Fantasy 16 is one of the best games of the year, but definitely not the best game of 2023.

    Pros: Amazing boss fights, good graphics
    Cons: Hour after hour of dialogue, boring fetch quests    … Expand
  69. AtariPup
    Aug 29, 2023
    5
    I’ve played more than half of the final fantasy games and this one is my favorite. I didn’t want it to be over and I’m still sad that I’m done with the game now, like 6 weeks after I finished it. It’s an incredible game. The story is beautiful. The characters are special and wonderful and the graphics are brilliant. I’m not into the mechanics - I love the story and consider myself a casualI’ve played more than half of the final fantasy games and this one is my favorite. I didn’t want it to be over and I’m still sad that I’m done with the game now, like 6 weeks after I finished it. It’s an incredible game. The story is beautiful. The characters are special and wonderful and the graphics are brilliant. I’m not into the mechanics - I love the story and consider myself a casual player and if you select story mode they give you accessories to be able to skip the technical stuff of the battles. There is something here for everyone. I also love that they reduced the male gaze quite a bit and additionally they gave us some major eye candy with Clive. Thanks for remembering that women play games too SE! Anyway - Best game ever.… Expand
  70. Aromdar
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    Un buen juego, con momentos magníficos, un combate entretenido y una trama que en general se desarrolla a un nivel muy alto. El problema llega con la excusa del worldbuilding, alargando la historia con contenido innecesario, aburrido y de muy baja calidad , sacado de las peores misiones que hayáis realizado en un mmo. El mismo juego con 20 horas , un 12.
  71. Benderthefourth
    Jul 2, 2023
    6
    Long time fan of Final Fantasy. I was excited for this one. I was ok about the shift to action JRPG. But I gotta say, I'm disappointed. The game graphics look really good, the story is interesting and the concepts are good too so it's a shame that it didn't delivered in many aspects.
    Many of the aspects it disappoints are actually very surprising. Lets dig them out:
    - Corridor levels.    Long time fan of Final Fantasy. I was excited for this one. I was ok about the shift to action JRPG. But I gotta say, I'm disappointed. The game graphics look really good, the story is interesting and the concepts are good too so it's a shame that it didn't delivered in many aspects.
    Many of the aspects it disappoints are actually very surprising. Lets dig them out:
    - Corridor levels. How can you do this in 2023? After FFXIII... After all these years of game design and plenty of examples/Inspiration ( also from old FFs)? Didn't they took inspiration from God of War too... I was totally fine with the news it was not an Open World game... but man level design!!!
    - Combat system... It doesn't fell right. It really feels like they weren't totally sure about going full action and then decided to go full at a certain point in the development. There's no strategy, There's no good feeling of anticipating the enemy's moves and worst of all it's too easy. Didn't SquareEnix received the memo that easy games are over? It was sent years ago! We need a challenge. It could have less enemies, but more challenging ones... But of course if you don't have any exploration you gotta have hordes of easy bait that can be overcome by mashing square.
    - UI... Damn people. Again, this is 2023 and there's so many good examples and yet we receive a game where you can't toggle of UI elements like: goal arrow, text that tells you exactly what to do. Like, you end up in the hideout, you have a map of the place and there's a text telling you all the time what to do and also a pointer!!! Why some games treat gamers like handicapped monkeys? It's not enough that the NPC tells you what to do??? So frustrating, what's the point of playing if you can just watch it... like a movie or something. By the way: the arrows you see around the "corridor levels" that supposed to indicate a jump or a crouch?? Why? The character jumps, crouches automatically, no need to press a button... why are you putting them? And why such evident designs?
    - Active Time Lore. Just a fancy name for that which every other JRPG has been doing since forever. But what's the best thing here? Well you can't access the lore through the menu... No! You need to go talk to an NPC at the Hideout... So no revisiting some info while you're outside. This is nuts, but wait:
    - No Bestiary. A JRPG without a bestiary! Even Action games have them these days...
    - Loot is mostly a cone of light in the corridor... and no button pressing to obtain it, it just come to you while you're passing by. You can spot the loot in a distance... This is mad. Walk simulator, corridors, little button pressing to interact with the environment and mashing buttons. Ah right that's why loot is automatic they knew you'd be mashing button in the fights... or?
    - Yet again: 2023 and there's this Motion Blur that makes you sick. No option to turn it off. It feels like there's no gained experience from the past (Like decades of making games SE!) in the team on this game. Which takes me to my next point:
    - EXP and the usual stats we so much love about JRPGs... Useless.

    There's more. But let's stop here. With FFXV was clear that they had (the team, the game, the company) a lot of existential crisis. This one feels a bit the same. Other than that the games is fine! Eheh.
    It's still interesting but it raises questions about the future of Final Fantasy. Where do they go from here? Embrace action ok fine, but you can do it and have JRPG DNA intact and, you know, make exploration appealing. Just look at Jedi Survivor did with exploration! Even God of War, a super linear game, they found a formula that works. The new era of Final Fantasy it's not here yet. The formula needs a lot of tweaks still. I sense fear of failure conditioning innovation. Somehow a game like YSVIII had a 10 times better exploration and that's a low budget JRPG!
    Godspeed SE.    … Expand
  72. DarkwingSchmuck
    Jul 7, 2023
    6
    Final Fantasy XVI is a big, bloated, inconsistent, but memorable and often times beautiful mess that is in desperate need of trimming the fat. There is a really good 15-20-hour action game hiding within this 40-50-hour slog.

    FF16 is a game at constant odds with itself -- not wanting to disappoint long-time fans by ditching its RPG elements altogether, but it has no interest in those    Final Fantasy XVI is a big, bloated, inconsistent, but memorable and often times beautiful mess that is in desperate need of trimming the fat. There is a really good 15-20-hour action game hiding within this 40-50-hour slog.

    FF16 is a game at constant odds with itself -- not wanting to disappoint long-time fans by ditching its RPG elements altogether, but it has no interest in those same elements either. They're tacked on and woefully under cooked, while the game's combat, boss fights, and giant set-pieces are superb. Every sensational Kaiju battle is followed by hours and hours of tediously boring side quests and pretentious melodrama. The side quests in particular are so dull that they stop any momentum the game builds up dead in its tracks, and make you question whether or not your time could be served better elsewhere. It is not the Blight, but "pacing" that is Final Fantasy XVI's greatest foe.

    Though, it is the narrative that is mayhaps FF16's biggest disappointment. A complete Game of Thrones ripoff, taking both ideas and characters wholesale from HBO's successful series, yet executed much, *much* worse. It's surface-level and shallow, bleak and dour, self-important, yet lacking in any self-awareness -- FF16's story simply isn't any *fun,* and it's about as nuanced and subtle as a sledgehammer. A darker, more "serious" story is all well and good, but FF16 makes no effort in crafting a world you want to spend time in.

    FF16 has things that work well in isolation -- the core gameplay mechanics itself are actually *very* good -- but as a cohesive whole it falls apart. If you want to watch Game of Thrones, you'd be better served watching Game of Thrones (or, better yet, reading A Song of Ice and Fire), if you want to play Devil May Cry, you'd get a tighter, more challenging and rewarding experience just playing Devil May Cry. If you want a high quality RPG experience, you're left with a slew of better options.

    I respect the attempt -- despite its various flaws, there was real effort put in here -- but this is not what I want to see Final Fantasy become.    … Expand
  73. straydogstrut
    Jul 3, 2023
    7
    The game can be really fun and exciting at times but it's held back by so much bloat. It also fails to deliver on many aspects. The story starts off interesting but by the end it gets pretty anime and lame. The combat is held back by only being able to equip 6 abilities at once. Many of the side characters are under utilized and the RPG elements are almost non existent....they are justThe game can be really fun and exciting at times but it's held back by so much bloat. It also fails to deliver on many aspects. The story starts off interesting but by the end it gets pretty anime and lame. The combat is held back by only being able to equip 6 abilities at once. Many of the side characters are under utilized and the RPG elements are almost non existent....they are just there for the sake of being there. By the time I finished the game I was left disappointed.… Expand
  74. nunokalhau
    Jun 30, 2023
    5
    I love the story, some visuals, and I accept that the action is great, even though I don't like action heavy games that much. That being said, some details on why I'm on the fence:

    Story: Its really good, but sometimes I can't help but feeling that they added a lot of spam just to make the game longer. I really don't understand why people are praising the side quests as well, so far the    I love the story, some visuals, and I accept that the action is great, even though I don't like action heavy games that much. That being said, some details on why I'm on the fence:

    Story: Its really good, but sometimes I can't help but feeling that they added a lot of spam just to make the game longer. I really don't understand why people are praising the side quests as well, so far the side ones I did didn't have anything to add to the story that I personally value.

    Visuals: yeah, combat is great and all with a lot of details. Running on a LG C2 TV, I can't help but feeling that sometimes all the details get mushed together along with the motion blur and it looks like sh*t. When it doesn't it looks good. Some environments are lacking "life" or some details. I feel that some locations got more attention than others.

    Gameplay: uff, you know what I really hate the most? when we return some items to a NPC... first we need to select the items, and then we need to press confirm... and there's always that small delay when delivering stuff and the quest actually completing, I just started skipping all this **** And people complained about unskippable merlin trials...

    I'm probably around mid game now: so far only crafted 1 (!!!!) sword, I rarely take notice on what I'm picking up, rarely go to see the items I have to equip, rarely look at the abilities or stats... there's just no point in caring about these systems.

    I'm playing on normal, but I don't like fast action games (or I'm not mentally able to play these anymore), so unfortunately either I use that ring that gives "auto attack" by spamming square (also the dodge ring) , or I'll just need to learn how to play the game like a pro: I don't want to neither do I have the time for that. With that said, my playstyle is like the following:

    watch movie > run straight > spam square > occasionally press R1 > repeat

    Not enough depth for me, but again, main story has been really good so far.    … Expand
  75. JSagittarius
    Jul 17, 2023
    7
    Souhrnně, chválím hlavní příběh, svět, grafiku, souboje monster. Nechválím, vedlejší úkoly, zdržování na všech frontách, často divná designová rozhodnutí. Vůbec nerozumím, jak mohla hra dostávat 90-100%. To ty věcí fakt nikomu nevadili? Nebo tou hrou ty lidi jen proletěli v hlavním příběhu?
  76. TerrenceG
    Jul 7, 2023
    6
    Just okay. Lots of cutscenes and decent action but personally find the game loop a bit one-note. Story quest, 3 side quests, a couple bounties, then on to the next story chunk.

    Worth checking out but not at the full price point
  77. MustPlayReviews
    Jul 6, 2023
    6
    Final Fantasy 16 is a visually stunning game with impressive particle effects, showcasing the power and size of the eikons. However, the art direction has some poor choices, including excessive chromatic aberration and motion blur that cannot be disabled. The game lacks color variation, with most of the visuals appearing dark and lacking depth. The sound design is outstanding, with anFinal Fantasy 16 is a visually stunning game with impressive particle effects, showcasing the power and size of the eikons. However, the art direction has some poor choices, including excessive chromatic aberration and motion blur that cannot be disabled. The game lacks color variation, with most of the visuals appearing dark and lacking depth. The sound design is outstanding, with an emotionally moving score and excellent voice acting, although there are issues with voice placement and compression. The gameplay introduces an unconventional combat system that can be exhilarating but becomes monotonous during basic fights. The combat lacks strategic elements present in previous Final Fantasy titles, making encounters less engaging. The performance of the game is not very impressive, with frame drops and stuttering in the performance mode. The story, however, is a standout, featuring compelling character struggles and emotional storytelling. The world of Final Fantasy 16 is dark and war-torn, filled with pain and hopelessness, but also the determination to protect and make things right. Despite its flaws, Final Fantasy 16 is worth playing for those who can overlook its visual and gameplay issues. I give it a grade of D and question the high scores it has received any game that has chromatic aberration loses a tier from me purposely damaging the picture quality is unacceptable… Expand
  78. sapphicvalkyrja
    Jul 7, 2023
    6
    Were it not for the existence of FFXV, this would be my least favorite Final Fantasy. While the game has a solid combat system and jaw-dropping Eikon battles, the character writing is some of the worst in the series history, the plot is several hours too long, and many plot threads and characters are dropped from the narrative with absolutely no pay-off. The sidequest designs showcase theWere it not for the existence of FFXV, this would be my least favorite Final Fantasy. While the game has a solid combat system and jaw-dropping Eikon battles, the character writing is some of the worst in the series history, the plot is several hours too long, and many plot threads and characters are dropped from the narrative with absolutely no pay-off. The sidequest designs showcase the worst elements of MMO sidequests (which is often more tolerable in actual MMOs), and the RPG elements are so muted that they should have been removed entirely.… Expand
  79. Alisan1379
    Jul 7, 2023
    5
    This game is an amazing experience, an story that have been written so well combined with a great gameplay that is getting bigger , more exciting..., and a fantastic music by (soken)
    And actually game is 60fps , and has a good side quest that make you understand the world of the game better.after playing this game for 28 hour , I would say it's the best final fantasy series that I played,    This game is an amazing experience, an story that have been written so well combined with a great gameplay that is getting bigger , more exciting..., and a fantastic music by (soken)
    And actually game is 60fps , and has a good side quest that make you understand the world of the game better.after playing this game for 28 hour , I would say it's the best final fantasy series that I played, and it's my GOTY.❤️❤️    … Expand
  80. Strider_Roshin
    Jul 7, 2023
    7
    If you asked my opinion at the 80% mark I would have put this game at a 9/10 easily. However the best aspect of the game (the story) fell off a cliff once it became more about the true villain of the game (which is near the end). If you don't care about a good story then the combat is fantastic, but it's a bit of an ability spam game rather than using your actual weapon. The itemizationIf you asked my opinion at the 80% mark I would have put this game at a 9/10 easily. However the best aspect of the game (the story) fell off a cliff once it became more about the true villain of the game (which is near the end). If you don't care about a good story then the combat is fantastic, but it's a bit of an ability spam game rather than using your actual weapon. The itemization is nearly non-existent. There are some great side quests; however, there are way too many of them, and a lot of them feel like fetch quests. The combat is also a bit too easy. I hear NG+ makes it better, but after experiencing the disappointing story once I'd rather not relive it.… Expand
  81. AyyDee
    Jul 4, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really wanted to like this iteration of FF but it I found myself falling asleep while playing a few times.
    The combat is OK..... Slash, slash, slash, limit break, eikon abilities, cooldown, repeat. It reminds me of FFXIV with a little active combat, on top of that the best Eikon, Odin.... isn't even unlocked until pretty much the end of the game. The game basically wants you to complete it first to then start having fun with having all the abilities and skills for new game plus. I'm sorry but I don't have the time or energy to play through everything AGAIN to get the best weapon to play arcade me for a high score.... What happend to all the cool side quests, dark aeon.... sorry Eikons, thing that you WANTED to do. Oh wow a few monster hunts.... AND!?!?!......
    there are about 5 side quest worth doing, all the rest are just to wasted your time to say the game took longer to complete then what it should of, generic fetch quests, run around needlessly for a few gil and creating items you will probably never use because all the stuff worth your time is pretty much at the end of the game. At the end of a cutscene a chracter says he wants to have a word with Clive, only for me to run across the other side of the hideaway to say two sentences that he could of just said in the original cutscene.... its a constant run around, of needlessly filler.
    The story is good, but again I feel the game keeps purpose postponing and slowing everything down on purpose and its quite annoying.
    The only character that had an impact for me was Cid.
    In short because I cant be bothered to write anymore... the game is mediocre, its FF, but only because of the Eikons, Crystal's and other nuances of the final fantasy series. Not a fan of the direction its headed and this just goes to show by the sale that have dropped by 90%. Please don't believe the hype.    … Expand
  82. fabianop
    Jul 4, 2023
    7
    The game is very linear. Items acquired around the world and in battles are practically useless. It has no puzzles or challenges. The character evolution system is superficial. There are many, many cut scenes. It doesn't feel like Final Fantasy.
  83. oYazmat
    Jul 12, 2023
    7
    Now that I have finished it, I can give my honest review:

    Visuals 10/10
    Storytelling 9/10
    Combat System 8/10
    Side quests 8/10
    Story 6/10
    Monsters Variation 5/10
    Abilities System 4/10
    Side content 3/10

    In terms of a general appreciation, I can give it a 7/10
  84. Razalgul
    Jul 14, 2023
    6
    +nice graphics +story good overall (just badly paced)
    +great score
    +feels epic =fight system not bad but gets repetitive fast
    -boring, really bad side quests
    -ability tree can be ignored -crafting can be ignored, very simple
    -empty world with nothing to do other than the main quest
    -too linear
    -no RPG in FF16
  85. BillyOcean
    Aug 30, 2023
    5
    An absolute slog with no spirit or life. Cutscenes dragging on at literal 25% normal human conversation comprehension speed. The narrow hallways that connect these cutscenes, "the world", might look really nice, but they are absolutely dead. The extremely dated arrangement of enemies makes the whole thing feel cheap. I just barely emerged from a truly sluggish cutscene and I'm about toAn absolute slog with no spirit or life. Cutscenes dragging on at literal 25% normal human conversation comprehension speed. The narrow hallways that connect these cutscenes, "the world", might look really nice, but they are absolutely dead. The extremely dated arrangement of enemies makes the whole thing feel cheap. I just barely emerged from a truly sluggish cutscene and I'm about to just walk over to the next one, and I see three enemies on the way that I could fight or not. This is the game basically leaving its pacing to me instead of curating it and making sure the whole thing has a rhythm to it - you know, a gameplay loop?! I could not be more disappointed. The fighting is good, but that's because they poached the guy who does the fighting good. The disastrous pacing wrenches you out of the world as often as it can and instead of a gripping high fantasy adventure I'm holding off on saving the world to go serve drinks for some lazy npc. This contrast might be something we could excuse for the ps1 era, but game design and narrative design have achieved a level of grace that we have come to expect in the last DECADE. This game is like sand paper to my brain. Makes me love the absolutely weird ffxv even more when compared to this, which is maybe the most vanilla, by-the-numbers action jrpg of the decade.… Expand
  86. Fetpro
    Jul 28, 2023
    5
    Un très beau final fantasy dans tout ce qu'il y a de graphique, technologie et une très bonne story comparé à l'opus précédent qui été vraiment bâclé. Cependant il manque quelque chose pour être un vrai ff. J'ai fais le jeu car grand fan de la licence et il m 'as couté cher mais comparé aux autres je ne le ferais qu'une seule fois.
  87. Tubey
    Jul 16, 2023
    7
    After the emo boyband car journey that was FF15, 16 represents a minor improvement, with it's more gritty, heavily inspired Game of Thrones aesthetic and story arch, but it drops the ball too often with it's mediocre world building and surprising lack of an RPG 'feel' to it. Too often I'm thinking just how good FF7 Remake was in comparison rather than feel invested in this one.

    I can    After the emo boyband car journey that was FF15, 16 represents a minor improvement, with it's more gritty, heavily inspired Game of Thrones aesthetic and story arch, but it drops the ball too often with it's mediocre world building and surprising lack of an RPG 'feel' to it. Too often I'm thinking just how good FF7 Remake was in comparison rather than feel invested in this one.

    I can see why people, at least initially, were bowled over by it - it has really good presentation, very much 'next gen' with a vast feel to the experience, but the more you play the more humdrum it gets, with the title too often descending into 'when's the next decent fight?' and 'can these characters shut up I'm not interested in what they have to say or do.'

    Also, a Final Fantasy game should never have a protagonist named Clive. Indeed, that sort of represents my overall main problem with 16; there's too much of an attempt to appeal to western audiences, to the point where it's lost a lot of what Final Fantasy is loved for. This feels like Bayonetta x Game Of Thrones rather than Final Fantasy.

    So yes, in short, it's a decent action game, at points it's great even, but not really a decent RPG. Final Fantasy in name only. It leaves a fantastic first impression but ultimately can't quite last the pace.    … Expand
  88. Gosticouilles
    Jul 16, 2023
    7
    Great game? Yes. Great Final Fantasy? Absolutely not.

    Goods - Amazing and satisfying Combat system - Great Cinematics - The Eikons are epic - Fantastic music Cons - Pacing is weird. When I play a final fantasy, I'm going on an adventure. In 16, you'll go back to a boring HQ in between every missions. - Enemies (FF have a huuuuge log of epic enemies and 16 barely uses them. - Some of the    Great game? Yes. Great Final Fantasy? Absolutely not.

    Goods
    - Amazing and satisfying Combat system
    - Great Cinematics
    - The Eikons are epic
    - Fantastic music

    Cons
    - Pacing is weird. When I play a final fantasy, I'm going on an adventure. In 16, you'll go back to a boring HQ in between every missions. - Enemies (FF have a huuuuge log of epic enemies and 16 barely uses them. - Some of the worst side quests in the gaming history. (Fetching, back and forths, speaking with 3 npcs, saving npcs from the same 3 types of enemies, etc.) - Exploration is not rewarding. Overall, FF16 is amazing but has so much undercooked ideas it makes the game fall short. Some of the main story quests feel like chores and it sadly really breaks the pace of an amazing story.    … Expand
  89. hobbitwithoutHR
    Jul 7, 2023
    6
    Characters are possibly the best I've ever seen.but somehow like…a dummy of DMC
  90. ghostlytoast
    Jul 5, 2023
    7
    This is a hard game to recommend. Because it’s not just a solid 7/10 experience all the way through. That would be fine, slap a 7 on the box, buy it or don’t, kills a few hours but has no lasting effect. No, quite frustratingly, this game has some awesome 10/10 moments that will blow you away, but they are consistently let down by 4/10 design, some baffling choices and tedious gameplay.This is a hard game to recommend. Because it’s not just a solid 7/10 experience all the way through. That would be fine, slap a 7 on the box, buy it or don’t, kills a few hours but has no lasting effect. No, quite frustratingly, this game has some awesome 10/10 moments that will blow you away, but they are consistently let down by 4/10 design, some baffling choices and tedious gameplay.

    For example the combat, it looks and feels amazing. Fighting smaller enemies gets dull relatively quickly but the larger enemies with the stagger bar are always fun. You’ll be dodging, countering, staggering and then letting rip with your most powerful moves, it feels great. That is until later on when enemies get much more numerous, now you’re spending most of the fight worrying about attacks coming from offscreen, picking off little guys with a few swipes until you can take on the bigger guy. And don’t think you’ll be able to attack the little guys you want, nah, the game will decides who you attack at this point, wanna go after the annoying magic **** you’ll have to dodge your way over to him away from all the other guys swarming you.

    Combat also looks incredible, each attack from you and your enemy is accompanied with flashy particle effects that are just beautiful. That is until later on (again), get ready for an absolute bukakke of bloom and particle effects filling your screen, especially in boss fights. You’re dodging flaming shockwaves from falling comets and sidestepping the dancing arcs of lightning crackling above your head. Oh you missed barely conceivable blue glow underneath you, now you’ve been penetrated by an ice spike and your day is ruined. Although that’s not to say bosses are hard, they’re not. They are however an incredible spectacle to behold. But how does a boss battle feel epic if it’s easy, well you make it really **** long apparently. I’m sure some of the bosses go on for over an hour, or at least it feels like it. And when you have multiple phases of doing pretty much the same thing, over and over, followed by some cutscenes with QTEs and then an Eikon section, followed by another boss phase and then a QTE cutscene. Well it can drag on a little.

    So that’s over, I’ve just punched a dragon into oblivion, cracked a continent and been to outer space in an epic showdown and I’m still only a third of the way through. What next? How can you possibly top that? You want me to do what? Pick some flowers? Um… Okay. Yeah The lows can get a little jarring, after the epic, admittedly overlong highs. Especially when more than a few side quests consist of, talking to a quest giver, fast travelling to a place to talk to another person and then fast travelling back to the quest giver.

    So why play? Well, the story is well worth it. It actually kept me going until the end when I was done with everything else. And the good parts of the game are there in abundance, and you will enjoy them. But it will be harder to overlook the equally abundant issues for some people. Which is why this game seems so divisive.

    I will say this, to give this game a 10 you have to overlook some pretty egregious issues. To give it a 0 you have to overlook everything the game gets right. These reviews are best ignored. Do your research, read as many reviews as possible and if it looks like the issues won’t ruin the game for you, go and get it. You won’t be sorry.    … Expand
  91. siegdubhy
    Jul 2, 2023
    7
    This is a very good game... but from mainline FF titles I expect no less than greatness.

    Audio and video (10/10) - I don't think further comment is needed. Combat gameplay (10/10) is great. It is fun, fast, fluid, challenging (at least in NG+) and it simply works. RPG elements (5/10) - here lies my first issue. It is both too simple and too complex. FF games work with relatively    This is a very good game... but from mainline FF titles I expect no less than greatness.

    Audio and video (10/10) - I don't think further comment is needed.

    Combat gameplay (10/10) is great.
    It is fun, fast, fluid, challenging (at least in NG+) and it simply works.

    RPG elements (5/10) - here lies my first issue.
    It is both too simple and too complex. FF games work with relatively complex RPG elements (FF8, FF10 and FF12) or with simple ones (all the others). This is somewhere in between.
    Crafting (and looting material) before NG+ feels pointless. It does pick up later on, but still, not that much fun.
    The skills themselves could use more customization (upgrades).

    Side quests (4/10) - probably my biggest issue.
    Some side quests are great in building up the world, most of them feel just like generic fillers and some (the big quest chains) in the end feel pointless.
    FF never really was about all those long winded side-stories and stretched out world building through long dialogues.
    Honestly, 90% of side quests simply bored me. The other 10% I consider great.

    Open world (4/10) - bad move.
    Open world games are usually bloated with content of varying quality/repetitiveness, that's pretty much the point of having an open world.
    Here we simply have a web of linear narrow paths (FF XIII anyone?) with a bunch of backtracking and barely any point in exploring unless you are told to by quests or marks.
    Lack of typical FF endgame content is also a big problem.

    Main story (8/10) - well it is epic, but...
    In all honesty - there's not much of it at all. Lots of character building, lots of world building, but the crisis story itself - not only it doesn't feel like it's in the spotlight, but also it is incomplete.
    We were promised a "complete experience", yet I feel we didn't get it at all.
    The questions it left unanswered will probably require FF XVI-2 to resolve - not a terrible thing, but I would rather they said it's not a fully closed composition from the start.

    All in all I give it 7/10 .
    I am slightly disappointed.
    I don't feel the pull to replay the story or try to shove it down someone's throat as a must-see.
    I'm not sure there were any really memorable moments there. Sure, the Eikon battles were epic, but that's not enough.
    The game feels like it tries to be a few things, but stops halfway through (especially the open world RPG bit), as if being scared that going all the way would be a bad thing (who knows, it could have been worse like that).
    For me FF games were always about the story, about finishing a game and feeling content with the conclusion and everything leading up to it. This one didn't scratch that itch at all.
    Hoping for FF XVI-2 to redeem this.    … Expand
  92. MeowMeowMix
    Jun 28, 2023
    7
    The game is leaning towards good, but it has too many flaws, hallways with battles in circular arenas is every map it feels like. Action Combat is rarely for me too, there's a few expections, this isn't one of them, but if you like Devil May Cry this'll probably be fine for you. I also miss a real party system too much. I want to go on an adventure with a bunch of people and build them all up!
  93. TooBarFoo
    Jun 28, 2023
    7
    So this is not a bad game, far from it, but it's also not a great game. As a FF game it is even weaker. While I've never been a turn based fan I did like the FF7 remake blended gameplay, I think it's aa shame that was not developed further here. This is a fairly good action game dragged down by a below par open world with quests from the early 00's and mostly bland NPC's. But the game isSo this is not a bad game, far from it, but it's also not a great game. As a FF game it is even weaker. While I've never been a turn based fan I did like the FF7 remake blended gameplay, I think it's aa shame that was not developed further here. This is a fairly good action game dragged down by a below par open world with quests from the early 00's and mostly bland NPC's. But the game is hidden within hours and hours of cut scenes with a few QTE at the best moments. I think SE needs to play God of war to learn how a story can be told in modern games. I've given it a 7 as when it's good it can be very good but I'm being generous as you have to wade through hours of mediocre to find the good bits. I'm thinking those giving this a 10 have only played COD and FIFA up till now… Expand
  94. naix221
    Jul 12, 2023
    6
    Graphics for the game look great but the performance is so poorly optimized it hardly ever feels great to play for those that like smooth gameplay. Doesn't matter if you use performance mode.

    Story seems fine, but nothing memorable overall at least in my opinion, even with reading every entry I'm still not really getting any hint of what the reviews giving this a 10 are talking about.    Graphics for the game look great but the performance is so poorly optimized it hardly ever feels great to play for those that like smooth gameplay. Doesn't matter if you use performance mode.

    Story seems fine, but nothing memorable overall at least in my opinion, even with reading every entry I'm still not really getting any hint of what the reviews giving this a 10 are talking about. It's a very predictable and average story, the boss battles carry most of the impact.

    Quests are terrible and dated, something straight out of FFXIV. I've yet to do a quest that isn't find item, deliver item, or kill some random fodder monsters. No real story or impact to any of them, easily skippable dialogue.

    The world map for a game like this was a terrible decision and really takes away from the world but then again the world as you see it in the game is mostly linear zones with multiple tiny holes you crawl through over and over or overly dark castles. With the rare exception of the quest zones which are mostly just empty and ignored other than completing some required quests or searching for the hunt mark.

    Gameplay is enjoyable, but mostly only during boss fights, the combat system while nothing really new for action is more or less well done and feels polished. I think the magic burst system is probably the least enjoyable part of it but there are work arounds to not use it. Overall the Eikons get boring and 1 dimensional, you get a new ability and it's shiny but most of them are only useful if they do high stagger or high damage without massive recharge times and a long cast... most are in-between or take too long.

    By the end of the game you'll feel extremely tired of playing Clive typically, his combat style never changes and he's all you get.

    Equipment is boring except for the one that enhances your combos after precision dodges, crafting might as well just be buying weapons.

    This game is definitely not a 10/10 or 9/10, that implies it's near perfect. I think a maybe a 6 or 7 is the fairest score, 7 if you don't care about performance. The highs of the game are the boss battles and the lows seem to be everything in-between.    … Expand
  95. raparecido
    Jul 5, 2023
    7
    Absurdo com a franquia.

    Falta inúmeros elementos de RPG. Falta variação de tipos de danos (corte, pancada, fogo, gelo), falta resistência física e mágica. Falta variação de builds e variações no estilo de combate. Não estou me referindo ao combate em turnos, mas na variação de gameplay. FFXVI é um ótimo jogo de ação linear (um irmão gêmeo de Devil MayCry) do tipo que você curte a    Absurdo com a franquia.

    Falta inúmeros elementos de RPG. Falta variação de tipos de danos (corte, pancada, fogo, gelo), falta resistência física e mágica. Falta variação de builds e variações no estilo de combate. Não estou me referindo ao combate em turnos, mas na variação de gameplay.

    FFXVI é um ótimo jogo de ação linear (um irmão gêmeo de Devil MayCry) do tipo que você curte a experiência de ZERAR ele uma vez, mas um péssimo jogo de RPG (falta expiração em The witcher 3, em FFXII, entres outros jogos).    … Expand
  96. Kearne
    Jul 24, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So I'm just after gaining Shiva Eikon powers, before final showdown with Odin and I have to say that.... it was the most boring Final Fantasy in my career. I'm fresh after finishing FF6 and repeating 9. My God... so many things went wrong in this one. Plot was great until Cid's death, then suddenly game lost all its pacing. Dozens of completly random side quests (talk to 1st person, talk to 2nd person, kill something, bring item to 1st person). And there is more and more of those between almost every bigger main mission. Even main mission are all like: run through corridors, valleys, kill every group, 2 mini bosses and main boss. Rinse and repeat. Characters are boring. Jill is there just to be a meatshield and show Shiva from time to time, Clive is so cliché with his "I have to save the world and let people choose their lives". Boss Eikon fights are really good, so is the graphics. Fighting itself is .... meh.... I would rather prefer what they did in 7 remake. As there is absolutely nothing left of rpg tactical thing. FF16 is just Devil May Cry, so if you like action hack and slash mashers you will probably like the game. I'm not even sure if I will have enough will to finish the game. And that's really bad if you have to make yourself finish something that should be fun. Plus for graphics, eikon fights and powers, moogle and first half of the plot.… Expand
  97. rudedude
    Jun 29, 2023
    7
    + Cool lore and gripping story (at times)
    + Great boss battles and enemy variety
    + Incredible soundtrack + Beautiful graphics and ray-traced shadows + Interesting DMC inspired take on action combat - Poor story pacing, lots of filler and fetch questing that wastes player time - Poor exploration, world feels empty and unrewarding to explore - Dungeon design is non-existent, very    + Cool lore and gripping story (at times)
    + Great boss battles and enemy variety
    + Incredible soundtrack
    + Beautiful graphics and ray-traced shadows
    + Interesting DMC inspired take on action combat
    - Poor story pacing, lots of filler and fetch questing that wastes player time
    - Poor exploration, world feels empty and unrewarding to explore
    - Dungeon design is non-existent, very linear (some thoughtful design along the lines of Elden ring/persona 5 dungeons would have been better)
    - Side quests often have boring stories and don't yield meaningful rewards
    - Extremely shallow RPG system, huge wasted opportunity with weapon smithing, no choice of builds with weapons just straight upgrades
    - Action combat system is too shallow compared to contemporaries and without a meaningful RPG system the gameplay feels watered down compared to older FF entries
    - Many boring support characters, weak party compared to all previous games    … Expand
  98. LasseRon
    Jul 3, 2023
    7
    I loved it at first, but the more I played the more I disliked it. The combat starts off really fun, but is sadly very repetetive and easy. Story also starts really good but takes a massive nose dive near the end. The best part of the game is the Eikon battles. They are really good and fun to play.
  99. Fkuitsguud
    Jul 7, 2023
    6
    Boss fights are good, story is mostly interesting, everything in between put me to sleep. Combat is just "use abilities and hit square while they're on cooldown" which would be fine if 30 hours of pointless wandering was taken out of the game

    Looks pretty, but it's a mile wide and an inch deep. You can feel what they meant when they said this one was "an action game for younger audiences"
  100. Onwardxupward
    Jul 3, 2023
    6
    I absolutely loved 50% of this game and loathed the other 50%. The combat, boss battles, characterization, and the GRAPHICS are the BEST I've ever seen.

    On the other hand, the questing and gameplay structure feels it was pulled right out of the Ubisoft playbook of "walk towards icon, press X, walk towards another, press X, repeat...". After the 100th time of walking down the same    I absolutely loved 50% of this game and loathed the other 50%. The combat, boss battles, characterization, and the GRAPHICS are the BEST I've ever seen.

    On the other hand, the questing and gameplay structure feels it was pulled right out of the Ubisoft playbook of "walk towards icon, press X, walk towards another, press X, repeat...". After the 100th time of walking down the same hallway to deliver yet another item, I checked out. My prediction is that is game will age poorly due to how superficial it is. I wish there was more depth of strategy and customization found in other RPGs, or even a robust combo system like you would see in DmC.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2023
1
#1 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2023

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 146 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 134 out of 146
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 146
  3. Negative: 0 out of 146
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 22, 2024
    100
    Final Fantasy XVI is an excellent game in every way. If you're a fan of the series for the stories and characters, you won't go wrong here, and if you've avoided the series for, say, turn-based combat, the sixteenth installment offers the perfect opportunity to get started with this legend of the gaming industry. [Issue#329]
  2. Riot Pixels
    Oct 30, 2023
    73
    This is a solid RPG/action game. Some elements of the game are unusual and fresh for single-player parts of the Final Fantasy series, but some are too dull and rudimentary.
    Read full review
  3. PLAY
    Sep 17, 2023
    90
    New numbered FFs are good again. Stunning to look at, with new, punchy combat, and a great yarn, it is, if anything, too focussed, lacking a bit of the weird. [Issue#30, p.78]
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