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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Captiosus
    Jul 4, 2023
    7
    As I sat there watching the credits roll, I basically came to the realization that this would be a good game if it had any name other than Final Fantasy. As a Final Fantasy game, however, it doesn't live up to the legacy of the franchise.

    Solo protagonist, action hack-and-slash, very few actual RPG elements, a lackluster world system, shallow characters with very little development,    As I sat there watching the credits roll, I basically came to the realization that this would be a good game if it had any name other than Final Fantasy. As a Final Fantasy game, however, it doesn't live up to the legacy of the franchise.

    Solo protagonist, action hack-and-slash, very few actual RPG elements, a lackluster world system, shallow characters with very little development, middling story arcs, mediocre exploration and crap loot, an unresolved ending... These would be fine if it was trying to be its own thing. But it's trying to be a FINAL FANTASY game. Tack on the awful performance with obscene motion blur in quality mode and severe frame drops and stuttering in performance mode and it just isn't worthy of all the 8s, 9s, and 10s it's getting. I struggle to give it a 7. It's honestly closer to a 6.

    Slightly better than FF15, but that's not exactly a high bar to clear.
    Not at all interested in replaying this game.    … Expand
  2. 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
  3. Binyabik
    Aug 8, 2023
    7
    I really wanted to like it but there are soooo many issues.

    It's hardly an RPG besides talking to people it's an action game but: For all the hype around the DMC combat designer the combat is not good enough and doesn't go deep enough to be enjoyable. The combat just doesn't go deep enough and offer enough. Enemies are either too easy (normal mobs) or boring (too much health but    I really wanted to like it but there are soooo many issues.

    It's hardly an RPG besides talking to people it's an action game but:

    For all the hype around the DMC combat designer the combat is not good enough and doesn't go deep enough to be enjoyable. The combat just doesn't go deep enough and offer enough.

    Enemies are either too easy (normal mobs) or boring (too much health but no challenge).

    The same few monster types repeat over and over and over.

    The world is... empty? Like it's FF13 all over again. Sure there are huge areas but they have no purpose. There is nothing to discorver, hardly anything to do. If you are lucky there is a treasure chest somewhere which 99% of the time alone contain crap mats you already have 1000s of.

    All side quests are kill x or collect flowers and 99% of them don't tell an interesting story.

    The crafting system is a joke. Every few chapters you get the newest items, no farming needed ever if you have been killing monsters (besides the 3 best items in the game, which are also more or less handed to you).

    The world as such and the people in it are mostly a..holes. There is no nuance. Everybody either helps "Cid" or is against you. It's all black and white.

    The graphics are nice but too close to FF XIV, same goes for their overall design and aesthetic. That's of course personal taste but I hate it.

    I will stop here but I definitely feel this game has a lot of issues and flaws and doesn't deserve the high rating it received. It's not bad but it's definitely not great.

    There is of course some great stuff in this game. The story at points is awesome. Graphics are mostly good. The soundtrack is amazing. Some boss fights are insane (but way tooo long).

    However for every high and Woah! that was insane there are such deep lows... when i finished the game I was more annoyed and happy to be done with it more than anything else.    … Expand
  4. firstevil87
    Sep 2, 2023
    7
    Ultima Mithos?
    Every time a new Final fantasy is released, we say: "this is the most divisive ever".
    And it is also true here. Never a game had highs so high, and lows so low that rating it is just a matter of taste, rather than objective merits. Let's start with the good: the story! This is the best final fantasy story in a very long time, with characters both memorable and    Ultima Mithos?
    Every time a new Final fantasy is released, we say: "this is the most divisive ever".
    And it is also true here.
    Never a game had highs so high, and lows so low that rating it is just a matter of taste, rather than objective merits.

    Let's start with the good: the story!
    This is the best final fantasy story in a very long time, with characters both memorable and charming.
    The plot gives some "game of thrones" vibes that combine political intrigue with supernatural calamity.
    Regardless of your personal taste, it is undeniable that Square put effort into crafting an unforgettable world.

    But now there is the bad...
    This game doesn't want to be a game, the part when you are in control seem more often then not an afterthought.

    The "meaty" part of the gameplay is the combat and, for a final fantasy, it is very disappointing.
    Turn based combat has been replaces with a devil may cry action swordfest.
    Any resemblance of planning and "tactic" gets thrown out of the window due to a hectic speed and magic effects covering the screen.
    At points you would just button mash randomly because you don't see what you are doing or if anyone is attacking you.

    Worst, there are no status aliments, or elemental damage so any new power is mostly (not always but mostly) cosmetic.
    Personally, I would have preferred a more distinct "look and feel" for any new "power up" (a different weapon?).

    Even worse, the party system has been completely ditched in favour of AI companions that pop in here and there, with no control over their equipment and stats.
    Only Torgal, a canine companion, can be somehow controlled, but it never feels impactful or rewarding or tactical.

    Having said that, when the system clicks, it can be very fun, but not much final fantasy.

    Outside of combat, the game doesn't shine at all, despite having a wonderful world that kills any desire to explore it.

    In conclusion, if what matters to you the most in a final fantasy is the story, this will keep you entertained.
    If you are looking for gameplay and exploration and all the little things that made final fantasy special, I am afraid you will be disappointed.    … Expand
  5. 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
  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. 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
  8. Redman_07
    Jun 28, 2023
    7
    i simply can not go over a 7...i wish i could, but i can´t.
    And here is why:
    - 0 Fantasy, literally, 90% of the colors are black/gray, no other races, no tech, nothing. - 0 rpg elements. Literally 0. you have 2 equip slots, which you just buy the new one the next chapter, clap clap. and a sword, same. - 0 "elements", there are no resistances, no poinsing, no burn, no slow, nothing,    i simply can not go over a 7...i wish i could, but i can´t.
    And here is why:

    - 0 Fantasy, literally, 90% of the colors are black/gray, no other races, no tech, nothing.
    - 0 rpg elements. Literally 0. you have 2 equip slots, which you just buy the new one the next chapter, clap clap. and a sword, same.
    - 0 "elements", there are no resistances, no poinsing, no burn, no slow, nothing, just raw damage
    - 0 fun with sidequests, it´s the basic mmorpg thing
    - 0 party member, no, you do not have a party, just 1-2 characters that somewhat join you in battle and mostly do almost nothing. you can´t equip them, not improve them, nothing.

    why is it still a 7?
    Presentation is great.
    Gameplay is really good, just took a while to get new stuff.
    it is a final fantasy after all, what i mean is, the boss fights, the over the top action and epicness with a great soundtrack (but definetly not as good as the great ones).

    So, what can i say...it often is very slow, awkward, i watch anime and play jrpgs, but in ff16 there is a lot of cringe going on.
    In the end, great game, but 0 RPG, action-adventure, with technical issues, which makes it a 7 not an 8.
    have fun    … Expand
  9. Talbis
    Jun 27, 2023
    7
    Is it a bad game? No, hell no, it's a good game, great even! It just doesn't feel like Final Fantasy... The core of FF games is the characters, the party and here we don't have a party. We're solo so much and supporting characters pop up here and there, but they're not always with you, so there is no building bonds between the characters... or between you and the characters. The mainIs it a bad game? No, hell no, it's a good game, great even! It just doesn't feel like Final Fantasy... The core of FF games is the characters, the party and here we don't have a party. We're solo so much and supporting characters pop up here and there, but they're not always with you, so there is no building bonds between the characters... or between you and the characters. The main character therefore isn't being challenged, he doesn't evolve or change or grow as a person... He's the same at the end as he was at the start. Then there's the loot. The loot is boring. It's the most barebones stat increase (your +5 to attack). There's no fun there, no elemental effects, no flair... a sword is a sword, nothing more. Then the whiplash effect of the storytelling and gameplay is separated. There is no blend of story and gameplay. The story is given to you as cutscenes and gameplay is a whole other thing. That's the old-school way to approach storytelling in games and it just doesn't work. The game takes away the control from the player so often and in such a jarring way... The gameplay itself is amazing, fighting feels great! The thing is, this is like Devil May Cry more than Final Fantasy! I like both, I like Bayonetta too... I... I just want my jRPG to be a jRPG... Levels are pointless, gear is pointless, and everything I expect from a Final Fantasy is just an afterthought.

    It's really a phenomenal game, really worth playing and the price tag! Just be aware that it's not a jRPG title, this is a character action game. If you go into it like me, expecting an epic jRPG game, you will come out both disappointed and satisfied at the same time. Final Fantasy is changing... and I am not sure if I'm allowed to love it, I am unsure if the future of the franchise is bright. I mean, I was harsh on Bethesda for gutting Fallout 4's RPG mechanics... so I should be critical here too, it's just fair... but this one is so damn good... Ehhh...    … Expand
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. j_obediah
    Jul 1, 2023
    7
    This game is being pushed into the green by a lot of hype.
    Graphics: 10/10. Perfect
    Story: 7/10: The hero is the overly compliant cliché who does whatever is asked of him. Including horribly boring side quests. A LOT of exposition and forced dialogue that does not feel natural at all. Horrible pacing with hard, frequent, transitions that make you feel as though you're going through a    This game is being pushed into the green by a lot of hype.
    Graphics: 10/10. Perfect
    Story: 7/10: The hero is the overly compliant cliché who does whatever is asked of him. Including horribly boring side quests. A LOT of exposition and forced dialogue that does not feel natural at all. Horrible pacing with hard, frequent, transitions that make you feel as though you're going through a documentary and not a flowing narrative.
    Gameplay: 7/10: Not very interesting. It has a lot to it, but there's no real feeling of reward to it. I had more fun when I equipped the auto-attack ring. but then I just wished it let me hold the attack button down instead of constantly mashing it.
    Music: 4/10: I had to turn it down because the music did not fit the scenes. Boss battles that are supposed to be intense are accompanied by flowing, thoughtful music. I felt no suspense in those times.

    The game just did not deliver. If you're going to change this much about the series, then you gotta knock it out of the park, and it just didn't do that.    … Expand
  14. zugzug15
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    Story - 10, music - 10, graphics - 9, crafting - 6, spells - 5, combat - 6.

    The story and music are amazing and the ps5s graphics are awesome. The lack of spells with elemental traits that matter is a bit puzzling. Crafting is only for the latest equipment which will always just be a slight stat increase. Gil is almost worthless except for buying in game soundtrack. The combat is    Story - 10, music - 10, graphics - 9, crafting - 6, spells - 5, combat - 6.

    The story and music are amazing and the ps5s graphics are awesome. The lack of spells with elemental traits that matter is a bit puzzling. Crafting is only for the latest equipment which will always just be a slight stat increase. Gil is almost worthless except for buying in game soundtrack. The combat is flashy but once you find the combo that works for you it gets repetitive and boring and I found myself avoiding battles while traveling because I would rather use my time and combos on storyline battles. I do think this is a problem with it being single character focused and if they had done stories and battles with other party characters (Jill, Jonathan, Cid) it might have kept it a bit fresher.
    A mini map in the top corner or a compass would have been very helpful as well as I found myself constantly checking the map to make sure I was heading the right direction.

    Its a fun game that is heavy on cut scene stories but story itself makes the game so worth it.    … Expand
  15. diLesnock
    Aug 12, 2023
    7
    "People don't like turn based RPGs anymore" - well tell that to the huge player base of the recent Baldur's Bate 3.

    First of all, I don't mind the shift to action as long as it's done right. Take FF7R as example, although a more action-oriented it still kept the essence of FF series including strategy and allowing players to stop and think when things get more complex. Unfortunately,    "People don't like turn based RPGs anymore" - well tell that to the huge player base of the recent Baldur's Bate 3.

    First of all, I don't mind the shift to action as long as it's done right. Take FF7R as example, although a more action-oriented it still kept the essence of FF series including strategy and allowing players to stop and think when things get more complex. Unfortunately, FF16 battle-system lacks depth and challenge. It is a combat formula that requires little to no thought process and thus become monotonous rather quickly.

    I still had a lot of fun with FF16. There are vast moments of awe with stunning boss battles, some exciting Eikon fights and cutscenes. The game is surely intended to be a visual spectacle and it indeed achieves on that. The soundtrack is amazing as expected from a Final Fantasy game.

    However, as a hardcore FF fan I can't help to be less critic about what I would expect from a FF mainline game.

    In FF16 we have an intriguing cast of characters with complex backgrounds, but regrettably underutilized. With no group party, you're spending the greater part of the story playing with a single character accompanied by a dog. As cute as it sounds, in the other hand you don't get too emotionally attached to the characters as they don't accompany you during most part of your journey.

    RPG elements like secret dungeons, interesting equipment, and elemental spells are absent, leaving exploration and character progression feeling shallow. You will never find anything interesting within chests as the best equipment are made by the blacksmith. There are no secret dungeons with secret bosses that would reward you some set upgrade or special items. Talking about items the only ones you'll use in this game are Potions and High-Potions, there are no Phoenix Down as there are no party members, no Antidotes as there are no status effects like poison or haste or anything similar. Therefore, there is no incentive at all to detour your linear path and waste a lot of your time exploring an empty environment just for additional crafting material that you will never use.

    The boss fights are a visual spectacle as mentioned, but in the end, it feels more like a missed opportunity as they mostly drag out too long and present no real challenge. I wish they'd allowed the hardest difficult to be played since the beginning to make these fights a little more interesting.

    FF16 leaves me feeling that it would fit better as a spinoff rather than a mainline game. I don't mind the experimentation but if this is the formula intended moving forward than as a hardcore fan it gets me worried about the future of the series. In the end it feels the gameplay are just there to fill the gap between a movie and a game, because that's ultimately what FF16 feels like, a huge movie with a lot of filler battles in between.    … Expand
  16. 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?
  17. arostislavna
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Initially I thought it would be a dry story because I don't like medieval setting games, but it deserves a 7 for a medieval anti-imperialist plot, it's pretty cool for the modern action RPG style combat system, maybe lacks in summons but that's just me. Additionally, the final boss is freaking annoying and I take away 2 points for that. (Previously a 9)

    I still prefer    Initially I thought it would be a dry story because I don't like medieval setting games, but it deserves a 7 for a medieval anti-imperialist plot, it's pretty cool for the modern action RPG style combat system, maybe lacks in summons but that's just me. Additionally, the final boss is freaking annoying and I take away 2 points for that. (Previously a 9)

    I still prefer cyberpunk/futuristic Final Fantasy slightly more (ie: 7 / 13)    … Expand
  18. Reed618
    Aug 1, 2023
    7
    Long time fan of the series, I've finished every mainline entry except 11 plus many spinoffs. Personally found 16 to be a mixed bag. The combat is fun but does get repetitive and lacks any strategy. It's mostly a case of waiting for cooldown timers. Very surprised there's no elemental damage, you can literally fight fire enemies with fire and it works fine.

    Personally didn't like the    Long time fan of the series, I've finished every mainline entry except 11 plus many spinoffs. Personally found 16 to be a mixed bag. The combat is fun but does get repetitive and lacks any strategy. It's mostly a case of waiting for cooldown timers. Very surprised there's no elemental damage, you can literally fight fire enemies with fire and it works fine.

    Personally didn't like the characters, they seemed kinda tropey and dull. 15 had its flaws but that was a charming crew. I did quite like the new Cid though. The story also felt a bit generic. I had high hopes for this one with YoshiP leading the project but it wasn't for me. Looking forward to the next ff7 remake game though.    … Expand
  19. Acguydance
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    A flashy but generic AAA action JRPG with a lot of cut-scenes, this FF sequel is highly entertaining but lacks the iconic feel of its predecessors.

    Pros: - Visually heavy and very casual friendly. You can sit back and relax without sweating your hands 80% of the time. - The combat system is fun and totally stress-free for an action game. You will feel like an action game god with the    A flashy but generic AAA action JRPG with a lot of cut-scenes, this FF sequel is highly entertaining but lacks the iconic feel of its predecessors.

    Pros:
    - Visually heavy and very casual friendly. You can sit back and relax without sweating your hands 80% of the time.
    - The combat system is fun and totally stress-free for an action game. You will feel like an action game god with the help of all the system assists.
    - Beautiful combat effects and QTE during key battles will keep you fresh.

    Cons:
    - Unnecessary but lengthy cutscenes are VERY distracting when you just want to PLAY a GAME.
    - Mostl. Linear. Final Fantasy. Ever. In terms of everything. Especially exploration.
    - Unable to turn off motion blur. May suffer.

    Also, there is no way this game deserve a 10 or a 0. Forget about those fanbois and Haters. Just saying.    … Expand
  20. RowanBlack
    Jul 7, 2023
    7
    Close to being great but just doesn't get there. Is this a good game? yes. However, a few tech and play issues keep it from being a top shelf game.

    The Great Cinematics are plentiful and well made. Characters are complex and help support an okay story. The okay Story is fine but takes too much inspiration from other source material (game of thrones) and is dark but pulls it's    Close to being great but just doesn't get there. Is this a good game? yes. However, a few tech and play issues keep it from being a top shelf game.

    The Great
    Cinematics are plentiful and well made. Characters are complex and help support an okay story.

    The okay
    Story is fine but takes too much inspiration from other source material (game of thrones) and is dark but pulls it's punches. They wanted to make a gritty game but apparently were also worried about offending anyone so scrubbed it out anything mature. This makes the story feel like it has no appropriate audience...like an R rated movie that's been cancered for general audiences.

    Combat gets to feeling repetitive after a while. I've played many action games with better move sets, and it feels like they are trying to cover up a mediocre system with an abundance of particle effects. I think they should have stuck with being a turn-based game, where they could be the king of turn based games, they settle for middle of the road for action.

    Graphics have a constant blur and muddy feel. This game would look amazing on a $4000 pc but the ps5 just doesn't have what it needs to run this above 30fps.

    The bad
    Crafting is minimalistic. It's so weak you can completely ignore it.
    Side content is mostly skippable and unnecessary. Missing the often-massive amount of side content a final fantasy game usually has.    … Expand
  21. pif
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    This is an action combat game with Final Fantasy music / setting etc. The RPG elements are minimal, especially for an FF game, it is heavily linear, and has a lot of cut scenes. That being said, the graphics are nice and the story is good. Its just not a breath taking game changer of an FF game.

    I see a lot of people calling the combat easy, but this hasn't been my experience. If    This is an action combat game with Final Fantasy music / setting etc. The RPG elements are minimal, especially for an FF game, it is heavily linear, and has a lot of cut scenes. That being said, the graphics are nice and the story is good. Its just not a breath taking game changer of an FF game.

    I see a lot of people calling the combat easy, but this hasn't been my experience. If you play this without any of the hand holding items equipped that literally dodge, combo, heal you, and so on (so like actually play the game) then it is not 'easy'. I would describe it more as annoying. If you try to approach this like a souls game, dodging attacks and finding damage windows on bosses, you will be annoyed. The dodging is just kind of crap. Its unforgiving in an annoying way, where you just take hits that it feels like should have been perfect dodges. i don't know how else to put it. Anyway, the combat isn't about playing perfectly and more about getting hit less often, but understand that you are just going to get smacked around and knocked down from time to time. in other words, you just trade damage alot. its just not satisfying.    … Expand
  22. DeathSpiral
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    Very excited when Yoshida released 16... I Pre-ordered game because of faith of him.... and.... sigh

    Graphic: (9/10) Great and stunning scenes. Very nice. But the frame drops frequently. Story: (3/10) Telling is very bad. Does this guy want revenge? Why did this guy give up so easily? This guy wants to save people but not himself and his loved ones? Added sub-stories to the main    Very excited when Yoshida released 16... I Pre-ordered game because of faith of him.... and.... sigh

    Graphic: (9/10)
    Great and stunning scenes. Very nice. But the frame drops frequently.

    Story: (3/10)
    Telling is very bad. Does this guy want revenge? Why did this guy give up so easily? This guy wants to save people but not himself and his loved ones?
    Added sub-stories to the main story so they extended play time. Have to stop or drop the game because of storytelling. Sub-stories are boring but it is rewarded at the end.
    But the ending is............ It doesn't have depth of story and also not enough narratives to convince the player. Ending makes it even worse.

    Music: (10/10)
    One of the main reasons to play ff16. Normally music reminds me how great the game was... but I don't want to think about this game

    Battle: (8/10)
    Not an easy game, but there are modes and items to make the game easy. Which was very good. Button pressing game but it has more depth in 2nd playthrough.
    However, do they expect us to play the 2nd playthrough with this? Also, you can't play with other team members.

    GamePlay: (7/10)
    UI is not comfortable. No running in the village. Can't mark the object if you are not on the map. Useless Trophies. Some of the event scenes are too long or short of explanation. Couldn't balance the events.

    Overall: (37/50)
    Very disappointing game from Yoshida. He told us he focused on the story. But it's not good. It's for him and his team members only. I don't mind if it's not a RPG, or old FF style. But this was a failure of the FF franchise.
    The game wants to be a 'Sony' style game. I see why. It worked somehow, but lost FF styles. Yoshida called himself a gamer, but I think he misunderstood.
    His ego and mind just works with his team mates, but not work with FF fans or other gamers. It's about time to let the FF franchise go. Never going to buy the game from Yoshida again.    … Expand
  23. 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.
  24. seymour2012
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    Final Fantasy XVI is a good game, but it's hard to not feel that it could have been a great game and can't quite get to the finish line.

    I was genuinely incredibly hyped for the game, as I think Yoshi-P and his team can complete fantastic projects and I am a big fan of FF14 -- it is genuinely my favorite Final Fantasy game -- but 16 just fails to stick the landing for me. I know    Final Fantasy XVI is a good game, but it's hard to not feel that it could have been a great game and can't quite get to the finish line.

    I was genuinely incredibly hyped for the game, as I think Yoshi-P and his team can complete fantastic projects and I am a big fan of FF14 -- it is genuinely my favorite Final Fantasy game -- but 16 just fails to stick the landing for me.

    I know there is a lot of discourse about the action style v ATB/turn based/etc., and I don't really care too much about that discourse as I genuinely liked Stranger of Paradise; but there's something about the style of action combat 16 tries that I feel just falls flat for me. I do genuinely miss being able to be some archetype of a "caster" and focus on casting magic, or having more obvious "job" or "role" designs like previous games. I think it's possible to do in an action game (as mentioned, Stranger of Paradise), but this comes off being half-baked.

    Ultimately, it feels like a darker FFXIV but a little worse. I think this was a good entry into the Final Fantasy series and one that breathed new life into it, but I hope other games in the franchise test out different styles, as I'm not sure the action styles of DMC really work well within the bounds of what I expect from a Final Fantasy.    … Expand
  25. 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
  26. Haraxmant
    Jun 28, 2023
    7
    Tbh, It's a really good story, it's dramatically held back by its gameplay though.
    7 Isn't bad, comparatively it's even good.
    But compared to a lot of the 2020's Action games on PS5, XVI's gameplay just leaves a lot to be desired.
  27. framptHERO
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    A great game with strong music and a spectacular combat system, but too much repetitive. Game is hella easy, 0 challenge at all.

    Никакой левой лгбт повестки, все барнаульцы должны быть довольны.
  28. Spudsii
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Well i have to say for a final fantasy game Yoshi-p dropped the ball on this one the game is good but that's it good nothing more, it is very hollow and overall lacking for a ff game i think ff7 remake combat would have been so much better way to go in this game and when i start to think ff15 is a better game i know something is wrong.
  29. 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
  30. Thwomp
    Jul 1, 2023
    7
    For the life of me I cannot understand all the 8's 9's and 10's here. Holy smokes this game is no where near a freaking 10 or masterpiece, and it's definitely not a 0 either. There must be a plethora of trolls who give the fake negative AND positive score reviews. Because this is one of the not so great Final Fantasy games in the series. And here's exactly why.

    Huge, linear, empty    For the life of me I cannot understand all the 8's 9's and 10's here. Holy smokes this game is no where near a freaking 10 or masterpiece, and it's definitely not a 0 either. There must be a plethora of trolls who give the fake negative AND positive score reviews. Because this is one of the not so great Final Fantasy games in the series. And here's exactly why.

    Huge, linear, empty and boring world. NPC's outside of main characters have nothing to add with their dumb dialogue and most NPC's just stand in one spot the entire time doing nothing. Also, most of the towns are boring and lifeless as well. Dialogue and script is good at times, bad at others.

    Side quests are easy, but god awful boring. The only reason to do these is to get crafting materials and some extra ability points for eikon powers, which are not needed at all to beat the game. These will come to you by just doing the main story. Witcher 3 just smashes FF 16 in side quest quality. Sad.

    Muddy visuals outside of the climatic Eikon fights and boss and enemy battles. Visuals are great with spell effects, monsters, etc., and then you get back to the actual world gameplay and Clyde looks like PS4 or worse. Heck there are older gen games like Uncharted and Gears of War and God of War and Witcher 3 that STILL look way better than this. I cannot believe the blur I saw on character models and the low textures all around, especially in the distant environments, which are pretty awful in the background. Flat, blurry, zero texture mountains are abound here.

    Extremely dumbed down combat that this is basically just a straight action RPG with the player spamming square half the time, if not more. Eikon abilities are cool, but you'll usually run with the exact same setup the entirety of the game. ZERO depth outside button mashing eikon abilities to win.

    Speaking of depth, the item system and crafting and gathering system is a complete joke. There are very few items even compared to the huge amount of wonderful items in previous FF games. This is a complete joke, as is the crafting system. It's incredibly easy to craft and you are only ever going to need to craft the next best weapon or armor that the blacksmith has available, which is incredibly elementary in nature. Want multiple options for gear? Good luck! This is incredibly simplified and dumb.

    Now for the wonderful part; the horrible performance at low resolution on NEXT GEN PS5 hardware. Holy man is this bad. Ratchet and Clank looks 10x better as do many other PS5 and Series X games. It is 2023 and even The Witcher 3 next gen update absolutely SMASHES FF 16 in terms of resolution and performance. And the original game is almost 10 years old now!! There is no excuse why Square Enix couldn't make a more stable game with better visuals and resolution. Hell, there aren't even any graphics settings in this game and it's a next gen game, LOL. Just about every single new game has several graphics options on console such as HDR, Ray Tracing, Anti-Aliasing, on and on. FF 16? You can forget it! You're limited to graphics and performance mode and the graphics mode is virtually unplayable because the framerate isn't even locked at 30. It dips into the 20's for god sakes. And the performance mode reaches a maximum of 60 fps with several dips into the 40's. UNACCEPTABLE IN 2023, Square Enix!!! You can do better than this. So many other games run look so much better than this garbage. I literally felt like I was playing a PS4 or Xbox One game like MGS Phantom Pain. That game was 1080p max but at least it ran great, and it it was massive.

    Now the little good that there is in this game that prevents it from being a complete disaster.

    While the combat is extremely dumbed down, the fights look incredible thanks to the amazing particle effects and animations of the eikon abilities, boss battles, and cinematic gameplay of the Eikon battles. If those fights didn't look and feel so good then this game would have been a 2 or 3 at best.

    Music is also great and even probably improves on FF XV's awesome soundtrack which has two of the greatest orchestral/choir boss tracks in a game, ever. Hats off to the composer of FF 16, because like Blizzard and World of Warcraft, Square Enix's design team sure doesn't know what the hell they're doing anymore.

    Story. I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I love the dark adult theme to it. Not much to complain about here from me. Betrayal, love, death, revenge; it's all there. It's just too bad Some characters are much better than others (Kupka and Cid for instance carry a lot of the weight for most of the game). Mother starts off strong and then just stays silent for most of the game, with her child bent over her lap. Pointless, but overall I thought the story was a much needed positive point

    Bottom line is FF 16 is an average action RPG with great moments.    … Expand
  31. 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
  32. 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.
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. Haltsu
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    With roughly 16+ hours in with my friend. Here are some things I like + and some things I don't like -
    And will give a general thoughts at the end of this review. But before that I will highlight my plusses and minuses!
    + Visually the game looks great! Effects, details, the lightning. It all looks great! + Story seems interesting. + Main character is one of the best in FF entries. +    With roughly 16+ hours in with my friend. Here are some things I like + and some things I don't like -
    And will give a general thoughts at the end of this review. But before that I will highlight my plusses and minuses!

    + Visually the game looks great! Effects, details, the lightning. It all looks great!
    + Story seems interesting.
    + Main character is one of the best in FF entries.
    + Soundtrack is great.

    +/- Goes to combat. While I like it visually it lacks a lot of the strategy that made old FF games great. Stuff like elemental affinities etc.

    - Sub par side quests, honestly most of them have just been bad.
    - The gear and grafting is pretty bland. Hopefully it improves later on in the game.
    - Story while interesting, has some pacing issues-
    - The biggest minus is the lack of RPG elements usually found in Final Fantasy games! The game direction has gone a lot to the action route and I cannot say I am the biggest fan of this decision.
    - Performance mode needs some ironing.

    Final Rating will be a solid 7 from me.

    Not a bad game at all! I applaud the developers and Square for trying something different in this long running franchise. But sadly, FF16 seems to have taken some steps backwards on certain aspects ( Mainly the RPG mechanics ) while trying to innovate the series. But the story seems interesting enough even with its pacing issues and the combat while lacking the usual FF stuff is fun if you like Devil May Cry/Kingdom Hearts style combat and at the same time is visually appealing to push me to finish the game!

    Happy gaming!    … Expand
  36. TheProphet334
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    The frame rate mode feels very unbaked from a supposed game where square enix was very confident in themselves. Was it like tested at all i wonder and on another note the no motion blur option either it feels like it was made for last gen and we didn't move forward at all. Performance and the no motion blur option are -2 points together the third point is mission design a lot of timesThe frame rate mode feels very unbaked from a supposed game where square enix was very confident in themselves. Was it like tested at all i wonder and on another note the no motion blur option either it feels like it was made for last gen and we didn't move forward at all. Performance and the no motion blur option are -2 points together the third point is mission design a lot of times after epic eikon fights we go back to do fetch quests which really breaks the pacing it's more like they dragged the story out.… Expand
  37. StubbornStanley
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    It's a good game, but is it really FInal Fantasy? Well, yes, because that's what it's called, that's the universe, and that's what the creators' made. BUT, to echo many other FF vets, it's really not quite a Final Fantasy game at heart. The action is way over the top. There are too many enemies in many battles, which then boils down to a goofy dance of dodge and slash and wait for coolIt's a good game, but is it really FInal Fantasy? Well, yes, because that's what it's called, that's the universe, and that's what the creators' made. BUT, to echo many other FF vets, it's really not quite a Final Fantasy game at heart. The action is way over the top. There are too many enemies in many battles, which then boils down to a goofy dance of dodge and slash and wait for cool downs with very little strategy involved. And then there's the lack of party management, lack of wonder, and lack of any semblance of strategic combat that I'd prefer from a FF mainline game.

    The graphics are hit-and-miss. There are some gorgeous creature models, but many humans have very soft/muddy overtones. That goes for the environments, as well--some look great, and some have that muddy, soft look to them.

    The story is very adult and pretty well done, but I wouldn't say it's elite by any means. Still, well above average compared to most games.

    The music is excellent. I'm hoping a real OST appears on Spotify sooner than later.

    Overall, it's about as good as FFXV for me. It's worth playing and well made. However, yes I'm firmly in that camp that disagrees with the Devil May Cry direction that they've taken the franchise. I guess they think the Fortnite/ADHD crowd can't handle anything that's not completely spastic in it's combat.

    For me, it's a play through, done, trade in type of game that I will enjoy but won't ever come back to.    … Expand
  38. Sythalin
    Aug 2, 2023
    7
    It's highly debated back and forth, but God of Dragon Ball May Cry is a pretty decent game for what it is. I do tend to agree with the majority though - it's far more God of War/Devil May Cry game with a Final Fantasy skin than a true "Final Fantasy" game.

    The world is gorgeous and very detailed. However, it's also very empty. They attempted to fix the major complaint of FF13 where    It's highly debated back and forth, but God of Dragon Ball May Cry is a pretty decent game for what it is. I do tend to agree with the majority though - it's far more God of War/Devil May Cry game with a Final Fantasy skin than a true "Final Fantasy" game.

    The world is gorgeous and very detailed. However, it's also very empty. They attempted to fix the major complaint of FF13 where the majority of the maps were corridors, but failed to fill them with anything substantial. Zones are wide open spaces with a few patches of monsters here and there and 1-2 towns, which are also mostly empty. Quite honestly, the game really could've benefited if they would've make it a seamless world instead of broken into chunks.

    Combat is primarily where the game is compared to GoW/DMC, and rightfully so. Combat encounters either button mashing or QTE for major fights. For standard enemies... well it's basically the same still. There are a total of 38 abilities (no counting combat basic skills) and you can assign a total of 9 active at a time. Optimally, you'll end up choosing a mix that is maximizing stagger and pure damage. Unforunately, this makes the majority of skills "useless" in comparison. I didn't even bother testing/using the majority of the available skills once I found a combination that pretty much erased even elite enemies.

    The main story is okay. It's nothing super special, and nothing really felt unique. Besides for the "combat skins" and NPCs, this is really the only thing that was "Final Fantasy"esque, and it was unimpressive overall.

    Side quests get extremely tedious and boring very quickly, and that's amazing since you don't get the majority of them until towards the end of the game. And at that point, almost every quest is 3 minute or longer dialog, that you can thankfully skip through. At the start of the game, I was all in for sitting through the side stories. After hitting the end point of the game where they dump 15 side quests at once, it got to the point I just started skipping through the dialog for anyone that wasn't a "main" character.

    Crafting/gear progression is a complete joke. The option to craft progession gear (green) is pointless. Once you start rolling through the story and side quests, the materials for your next major weapons (blue quality+) are pretty much literally thrown at you. By the time you unlock a crafting recipe, you either already aquired all the materials or will be getting them very shortly after. They may as well just scrapped this entire system and given out the gear upgrades directly.

    Overall, the game is very pretty, and feels like the majority of development went into doing only that. Everything that makes a RPG feel like "Final Fantasy" felt like it was tacked on, or missing entirely, just so the IP can be in the title. They could've completely removed all the FF IP and it would be solid on it's own. Even FF15 felt more like a "Final Fantasy" game than this did. But again, even though this is most definitely "God of Dragon Ball May Cry", it was a solid game to play through.    … Expand
  39. CadenceFX
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    I’m a long-time PlayStation fan, and I personally rate this game an 7/10. There seems to be a lot of overhype for this game when there were a lot of games out recently that are just far better. Not to mention during this generation I expected the graphics to look better considering we’re at the peak of this generation. The graphics were “meh” and look PS4ish. Everything else including theI’m a long-time PlayStation fan, and I personally rate this game an 7/10. There seems to be a lot of overhype for this game when there were a lot of games out recently that are just far better. Not to mention during this generation I expected the graphics to look better considering we’re at the peak of this generation. The graphics were “meh” and look PS4ish. Everything else including the battle mechanics are good. I just think this game is overhyped.… Expand
  40. 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.
  41. Valmont88
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Final Fantasy XVI reaches very high peaks of excellence, the story is memorable, deep and engaging and the gameplay is fun and stimulating despite being wasted due to the type of context in which it was inserted, as a gamer I am satisfied but as a fan of Final Fantasy unfortunately I have threw in the towel. The RPG element is unfortunately reduced to the bone if not non-existent, it isFinal Fantasy XVI reaches very high peaks of excellence, the story is memorable, deep and engaging and the gameplay is fun and stimulating despite being wasted due to the type of context in which it was inserted, as a gamer I am satisfied but as a fan of Final Fantasy unfortunately I have threw in the towel. The RPG element is unfortunately reduced to the bone if not non-existent, it is therefore impossible to create any type of build with equipment and weapons that simply do not have special or status or elemental characteristics but are limited only to increasing the attack stat, the open maps are very visually stunning but they are completely empty and dead areas devoid of any sort of secret or point of interest or hidden rewards much less hidden unique dialogue characters etc. Crafting and leveling have turned out to be totally useless because the weapons and equipment are given to you at the next Boss fight or bssta buy them from the merchant on duty. it absolutely doesn't push you to experiment and that's a real shame because it's tremendous fun. In short, the game is enjoyable as a title but does not even have the shadow of its RPG component or mechanics dedicated to weapons and accessories and this is never lacking in a Final Fantasy. Unfortunately I have to repeat myself as a gamer I consider myself quite satisfied but as a fan of Final Fantasy we are really far from the glories of the past despite the fact that giant strides have been made compared to the XV without any doubt.… Expand
  42. kicoka
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    The game's combat is fun, and the eikon fight is awesome.
    But the RPG elements of the game is very little, which makes me very dissatisfied, and the game play is almost always fighting, quite monotonous.
    Finally, I don't like BE, I can't accept that Clive is dead, he should be living happily with Jill.
  43. PavPav
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Quite dated level design,empty world.
    Great cutscenes and good story.
    Was expecting more from FF series
  44. DingerDonger
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Why must they use the Final Fantasy name for this game? Both 15 and 16 (and that remake I guess) have morphed the series' combat into an unrecognizable atrocity when compared to the games of the past. Thankfully Square is still putting out games like Octopath Traveler, I Am Setsuna, and Triangle Strategy for the real RPG fans. The visuals and music are stunning, and the story is epic. BestWhy must they use the Final Fantasy name for this game? Both 15 and 16 (and that remake I guess) have morphed the series' combat into an unrecognizable atrocity when compared to the games of the past. Thankfully Square is still putting out games like Octopath Traveler, I Am Setsuna, and Triangle Strategy for the real RPG fans. The visuals and music are stunning, and the story is epic. Best of all, though, is that Square did not fall victim to the woke nonsense that poisons every new game franchise. The Japanese are not as easy to compromise their integrity as the spineless cowards in the West.

    If they released this game under a different moniker, it'd be at least a 9/10 from me. This is not a Final Fantasy game, though, and as such I cannot give it a higher rating.    … Expand
  45. 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
  46. NxtDoc
    Jul 1, 2023
    7
    Final Fantasy XVI is a solid game. Pro's: The soundtrack is very good. The characters are enjoyable, Clive, Cid, Gav, Joshua, and Jill are all very likeable. The voice acting is solid. Con's: Let's get the combat out of the way. Sure it's "fun", however it is a complete clone of Devil May Cry. Swings are nearly the same, the "Devil Trigger" is the same. It's all far too familiar,Final Fantasy XVI is a solid game. Pro's: The soundtrack is very good. The characters are enjoyable, Clive, Cid, Gav, Joshua, and Jill are all very likeable. The voice acting is solid. Con's: Let's get the combat out of the way. Sure it's "fun", however it is a complete clone of Devil May Cry. Swings are nearly the same, the "Devil Trigger" is the same. It's all far too familiar, and lacks originality. Sure the Eikon battles can be epic. However, even those at times can lack inspiration.

    The visuals are not that impressive. For being a PS5 exclusive I was expecting more. I feel like it could have been on last Gen as well. Character models look uninspired, move minimally and go into poses during conversation. But I guess that could be nostalgic.

    The open areas are far too empty, items in the world are waiting for you to pick up with a large white glow. It feels uninspired. Overall I feel like Final Fantasy wanted to be something else, rather than what made it an iconic franchise. I understand others are rating it highly. I don't completely agree. This doesn't make it a bad game by any means, it just isn't anywhere near an A grade.    … Expand
  47. Bevin_Kacon
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    Good story and decent combat when the game actually lets you play it. Too many generic characters and too many long winded dialogue cutscenes where nothing is happening. 7/10 on a good day.
  48. ZajebioSSa
    Sep 5, 2023
    7
    The game is very uneven, from the storyline to the quests but still i was nice adventure.
  49. Xenomorph_kills
    Aug 3, 2023
    7
    A new vision for the franchise but not with its many flaws. For every amazing moment this game provides through epic cutscenes, it is met with the absolute low with side quests involving simple item fetch quest that take just about equal amount of time in this 60 hour game. The gameplay is flashy but no depth. The main character is greatly fleshed out while the side charaters are one noteA new vision for the franchise but not with its many flaws. For every amazing moment this game provides through epic cutscenes, it is met with the absolute low with side quests involving simple item fetch quest that take just about equal amount of time in this 60 hour game. The gameplay is flashy but no depth. The main character is greatly fleshed out while the side charaters are one note and forgettable.… Expand
  50. 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
  51. 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
  52. Reudi
    Aug 19, 2023
    7
    if u take it overall.. its better then ff15 but if i take just the first 60% of ff15 its worse... so ye.. idk what i can give this game :D :D it is better or worse then ff15 ??
  53. Matorif
    Jul 2, 2023
    7
    ce jeu ne mérite clairement pas un 10.c est un jeu au-dessus de la moyenne Les graphismes sont bien et la musique est très belles.le scénario est correct. Par contre le combat est sympas les 5 premières heures puis c est toujours pareil rien de transcendant. Le rythme du jeu est catastrophique et il faut éviter les longues cessions de jeu sinon le jeu devient ennuyant.
    Les quetes annexes    ce jeu ne mérite clairement pas un 10.c est un jeu au-dessus de la moyenne Les graphismes sont bien et la musique est très belles.le scénario est correct. Par contre le combat est sympas les 5 premières heures puis c est toujours pareil rien de transcendant. Le rythme du jeu est catastrophique et il faut éviter les longues cessions de jeu sinon le jeu devient ennuyant.
    Les quetes annexes sont nullissime mais il faut les faire pour débloquer des améliorations. Ce jeu à trop de défaut pour être le jeu de l année je comprends pas tous ces 10.
    Encore les journalistes on peut comprendre ils ont peur de plus recevoir les jeux en avance des éditeurs.    … Expand
  54. 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! :)
  55. AlexApex
    Jul 19, 2023
    7
    I am a long time FF fan and I played many other action, rpgs, and action-rpg games. FFXVI is a good game but it has many core fundamental flaws that prevented me from giving it a higher score. I already wrote this before but got the 403 error, thanks metacritic, I apologize if you're reading this twice.

    Flaws Include. 1. Easy difficulty with little to no challenge even on action    I am a long time FF fan and I played many other action, rpgs, and action-rpg games. FFXVI is a good game but it has many core fundamental flaws that prevented me from giving it a higher score. I already wrote this before but got the 403 error, thanks metacritic, I apologize if you're reading this twice.

    Flaws Include.

    1. Easy difficulty with little to no challenge even on action mode. The mobs of enemies are just punching bags that barely do anything. They don't dodge or block and barely attack, some have a guard but that's easily circumvented. The enemy variety is small, you fight the same scorpions on different locations and every nation has a big guy with a big hammer or axe. The combat gameplay is amazing but there really is no incentive to make the best combos or to improve on them like in the game this was inspired by, DMC.

    2. Little to no itemization. You upgrade your sword very easily, and it's always a minor/flat increase like +5 damage/stagger. All the accessories mostly decease cooldown or increase damage of eickon ability, the only cool accessory is the berserker ring which actually does something. Your belt and wrist guard are no different to your sword, it's all defense and vitality increase. The only thing you can customize are your eickon ability and you can only really upgrade them once to improve them. The other upgrade is just to move it to another slot. Every battle gives you a lot of materials to upgrade or craft. It's very easy to get your best in slot gear, no thinking required.

    3. No RPG system. There are no buffs or debuffs in this game. Get hit with bad breath? Well it only does damage. No poison, haste, stop, paralyses, doom, etc. No elemental wheel. No way to strategize and exploit enemy weakness. All you do is just wail on them with your sword until stagger breaks, use limit break, hit them with all of your abilities, rinse and repeat.

    4. Too many side quests. At first the game starts you with only 2 or 3 in the early game which is fine but then amps up the frequency. Before the final boss I had more than 10 side quests that popped up. This really ruined the pacing. Near the end it felt like an MMO and trust me I played quite a few, you start by picking everything up at once, skip dialogue/cutscene, go here, kill that, collect this, go back to npc, accept reward. And some side quests felt meaningless, they could've been taken out and some MSQuest could've been sidequests.

    5. Quick time events are meaningless. The QTE are cool but it pauses the game for like 5 or 6 seconds just to press one button. There is no skill required and it just ruins the flow of battle. Kingdom Hearts II and older God of War games did it better. Those scenes would be better if it didn't have them so I could grab some snacks and enjoy the awesome Kaiju battles instead.

    6. No reason to explore map. Only things worth finding are the notorious marks or eickon trials. Only chest in the world just give you materials you already have or could just buy from an npc.

    There are smaller nick picks I have like your chocobo is just faster walking, no chocobo racing or treasure hunts like in FF9. No mini games to change up gameplay or just to relax like prior entries. Party members don't show up in side quests or respond in any way like in Mass Effect.

    Don't get me wrong, FFXVI is a good game. I love the story, combat, characters, dialogue, eickon battles and set pieces. But I was so disappointment by it that I was not having fun halfway through the game. I had to force myself to get to the end, it felt like a chore. I was gonna give it a lower score but Soken's music is magnificent like always. I will definitely get the album when it comes out. Anyways, thank you for reading.    … Expand
  56. Givos
    Aug 4, 2023
    7
    After the demo I had very high expectations. They were only partly fulfilled.
    it's a very linear cut scene heavy action game
    not much replay value for core games a bit too easy The story is ok, but after the demo I expected a GoT-like one - it's not. Loot is very seldom really useful or rewarding Bad 60 FPS Mode (switched to 30) Poor facial animations Great Music and the action    After the demo I had very high expectations. They were only partly fulfilled.
    it's a very linear cut scene heavy action game
    not much replay value
    for core games a bit too easy
    The story is ok, but after the demo I expected a GoT-like one - it's not.
    Loot is very seldom really useful or rewarding
    Bad 60 FPS Mode (switched to 30)
    Poor facial animations

    Great Music and the action was quite good    … Expand
  57. Kroztty
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Just another game inflated by the press, came out broken and shut up, it seems that the PS5 was going to take off.
  58. slaine130177
    Jul 18, 2023
    7
    Fini en 27h avec toutes les quêtes annexes, contrat d'élite et autres défis, ce qui fait quand même très peu pour un RPG type FF.
    Pour résumer FF16 n'est pas un RPG avec une dose de combat type DMC, mais bien un jeu Devil May Cry avec une pincée de Final Fantasy.
    Ici pas de gestion d'inventaire (du moins minimaliste), pas d'exploration libre mais des zones définies, pas de grandes    Fini en 27h avec toutes les quêtes annexes, contrat d'élite et autres défis, ce qui fait quand même très peu pour un RPG type FF.
    Pour résumer FF16 n'est pas un RPG avec une dose de combat type DMC, mais bien un jeu Devil May Cry avec une pincée de Final Fantasy.
    Ici pas de gestion d'inventaire (du moins minimaliste), pas d'exploration libre mais des zones définies, pas de grandes citées à explorer (que des villages quasi vides), des couloirs et des salles à l'infini jusqu'à la fin du jeu. C'est un pur jeu d'action teinté d'un scénario type RPG. Même pas besoin de farmer les levels, le titre est très facile.

    Il y avait tellement mieux à faire....Si seulement il y avait plus d'interractivité avec le joueur. Par exemple, à un moment dans l'histoire vous avez accès à une carte complète du monde avec tous ses enjeux politiques, sociaux et les stratégies de la guerre. Si au moins on avait laissé le choix au joueur d'attaquer le royaume qu'il veut dans l'ordre qu'il souhaite, qu'ensuite cela impactait le monde, les autres royaumes et changeait les stratégies, ça aurait été génial. Mais non, on doit suivre à lettre le scénario écrit.
    Ne cherchez pas non plus d'autres libertés, tous les objectifs sont indiqués sur la carte, même les PNJ à qui parler. Absolument AUCUNE liberté.

    Heureusement le jeu a quand même quelques beaux atouts comme un gameplay de combat bien maîtrisé et simple à prendre en main, d'excellents boss, un scénario sympa (mais pas aussi sombre que je l'aurais voulu), une OST excellente, un doublage VF bien travaillée et, un "méchant" charismatique.

    Dernier point sur la technique, le jeu alterne le très beau avec le très moyen en permanence. Le pire étant la modélisation des personnages (hors persos principaux) qui font peine à voir pour de la next gen. La PS5 peut faire largement mieux, le jeu aurait pu être cross Gen.

    Un bon jeu qui aurait mérité un peu plus d'ambition dans sa partie level design, liberté donné aux joueurs    … Expand
  59. 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
  60. MrGenji
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    This game is good, regardless of the weaker aspects, which indeed should be criticized.

    First of, the pros: - combat style was refreshing, action loaded and easy to learn, not really hard to master imo ; 9/10 - scenery and setting was point on, looked amazing whether it was the outer wilds, towns or arenas of showdowns regarding boss fights 10/10 - music was very much to my liking,    This game is good, regardless of the weaker aspects, which indeed should be criticized.

    First of, the pros:
    - combat style was refreshing, action loaded and easy to learn, not really hard to master imo ; 9/10
    - scenery and setting was point on, looked amazing whether it was the outer wilds, towns or arenas of showdowns regarding boss fights 10/10
    - music was very much to my liking, captivating the atmosphere of different sceneries and events very well, fits to FF ; 9/10
    - the main story line is well fledged-out, although implying a lot of clishees, generic elements of plot progression ( like plot armor for no reason and developments where you'd be like 'yeah right, sure...' ) and some blank characters, it is an interesting one to explore with the main acting chars being well designed and individually different fitting to their role ; overall main story is a solid 8/10 for me, since it lacks in a lot of ways, feels unfinished or even at times unreasonably rushed with its development, but still an enjoyable journey
    - graphics, gameplay, UI all felt very good to me, even though without the PS5's 'performance mode' it at times would seem your console resembles a little nuclear fission reactor; 8/10
    - Voice acting was great done imo and i tested out German, English and Japanese, with each having different yet fitting approaches to giving the character more detail to their traits and behvaiour; 9/10

    Now off to the cons we go.... because there are indeed some:

    - one of the worst aspects to me was the dialogues and the facial expression of characters;
    dialogues at times are redundant, boring, not really giving much info, but seem more of a filler as to say 'just put anything, regardless of reason, character, context, emotions or logic' and this feeling was present the most with side quests, although it at times felt also present in the main story , it was way less;
    the facial expressions are something else, the emotions that should be conveyed through context of the current situation and given dialogue is just lost (!), unfortunately this is present in every aspect, for example: Main Character (MC) has an edgy outfit and most of the time a saddened, even depressing look on his face, even when smiling it rather seems forced. Now a striking, fatal or even devastating message arrives or gets to his ears about the demise of one of his friends or something and all that happens is: His face looks like always, bc MC looks legitimately always sad. Facing in a generic and robotic his conversation partner and goes in a monotone way like ' Oh, thats sad. Sorry to hear that.' and even when the voice actors do their magic providing outstanding perormance the emotions simply get lost and instead of feeling the sympathy of loss i had to burst out laughing due to the bad acting and visualization of facial expressions and overall behaviour. Another example was a left out letter, that MC finds and hands immediately to a former a friend of the recently deceased boss and friend: The character starts crying while reading... at least thats what you hear, but due to the poor visualization there are no tears and just a small pull of his eyebrows pathetically trying to resemble someone's grief. i couldn't help but lauhgh... Now imagine FF7 and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aerith dies, you witness this moment and instead of falling alongside Cloud into despair - bc thats how good they delivered back then!!! - you burst out laughing bc of his goofy,robotic face and feel sarcastically entertained by the actual depressing statements happening at that very moment, thats how bad FF16 delivers on that part

    -Gearing did not feel satisfactory at all as there are not much aspects to go for, whether you seek for a broad deal of weapons, enchantments or greater upgrades, they are not existent; most of the stuff you could farm is a handful of items holding not much worth to it; its not horrendous or anything, but feels more like a poor version of 'God of War' itemization with very limited and not too encouraging options to explore

    -Exploring did also not feel too interesting, if you wtinessed the scenery of arenas, cities and the outer wilds, you basically seen and explored it all as even the varying enemies at one point feel recycled; for example the executioner of Titan has a big, big axe to decapacitate. He very soon becomes recycled as a enemy in the desert with a slightly different clothing style and his big, big axe is just in a wooden optic instead of steel

    - Side quests were aside from some horrible as they felt the most generic from their setup story-wise or even from the conditions to be fulfilled, they felt useless and a waste of time just as much as the dialogue and the content to it; Running stupid from a to b makes no quest good

    Overall, this game is a good and solid entertainment and a worthwile part of the FF series to be enjoyed at least for once, even with all the flaws.    … Expand
  61. NeverCasual
    Jul 3, 2023
    7
    The game is great if you enjoy story driven games. Based on the story I would rate it 9/10 (side characters could have used slightly more depth and there are some pacing issues). Setting is much darker than previous FF-Games, which has been a welcome change for me.

    Unfortunately, as much as I liked the story, it often feels like grinding through video sequences to get to the actual    The game is great if you enjoy story driven games. Based on the story I would rate it 9/10 (side characters could have used slightly more depth and there are some pacing issues). Setting is much darker than previous FF-Games, which has been a welcome change for me.

    Unfortunately, as much as I liked the story, it often feels like grinding through video sequences to get to the actual gameplay. The story and side quests/bounties take about 60h if you are not skipping dialog/sequences. 30-35h are dialogue/sequences and about 10h running through empty corridors to the next pack of enemies. Killing these with massive AoE-Damage-Skills from Eikons is fun tho'.

    The actual gameplay is decent. Combat system is really engaging if you are not using the "cheat rings" - they should never have existed! If you are playing without the rings dodging skills can sometimes feel somewhat overwhelming because many enemies have multiple visual effects active simultaneously making it super hard to time your dodge. Still I would recommend to unequip them at the start, as they make the game way too easy (almost effortless).
    Enemy variety is quite low and you will be fighting the same enemies just in differing colours all the time . Since even on "Final Fantasy"-Difficulty most of them pretty much just exist so that the player can execute extremely satisfying AoE-Damage-Combos, skipping all enemy mechanics, they could have added a little more variety there.
    Boss fights are engaging as long as you play Clive. Being massively rewarded for landing an Eikon-Ability that has a carging time or positioning-condition feels great. Sometimes it can be frustrating to dodge tho when ground and charge attacks overlap (assuming you play without "time... rings".
    Once you play as your Eikon it gets monotonous quickly as the difficulty drops massively, the abilities at your disposal are reduced to 4 (6) and the Boss-Eikon HP feels massively inflated.

    Early side quests are horrible. Yet, since their structure is mainly "Go-Kill 5-Return-Reward" (max. 1-2 min time investment) and they do not even count toward 100% completion, I do not really understand the fuss there. It does get better tho and eventually you'll end up in side quests that almost have too much dialogue.

    I would rate the game higher based on the combat (9/10) and main story (9/10), but it forces you into so much downtime that I have spent more time without my controller in my hand than I have spent actually using it... and when I was using it, it was often to get to the next npc to put it away again.    … Expand
  62. tangentcatz
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    This is a solid game with significant flaws. The longer I played, the more the flaws bothered me.

    Pros: Combat: the action combat is designed to appeal to a broad base. It appears shallow at first but allows for combos and complexity that will appeal to more action-oriented players. When you pull off certain combos or use abilities to control combat flow, it feels amazing. Boss    This is a solid game with significant flaws. The longer I played, the more the flaws bothered me.

    Pros:

    Combat: the action combat is designed to appeal to a broad base. It appears shallow at first but allows for combos and complexity that will appeal to more action-oriented players. When you pull off certain combos or use abilities to control combat flow, it feels amazing. Boss fights can be challenging, beautiful spectacles. You tailor skill choices to your own style and can respec instantly at no cost.

    Visuals: The game looks beautiful. The environmental and monster design is interesting and varied. Lighting and textures create a grounded, realistic feeling. Cinematic combat is visually mind blowing. Overall, it's great balance between realistic and fantastical.

    Sound: This game has some of the best voice acting I've heard in video games. I suspect a lot of people overlook the mediocre story because the voice acting is so convincing. Soken, as always, creates thematic and moving music.

    Cons:

    Story: The story is aggressively mediocre. Outside of Clive, very few characters get any depth or characterization. Most of the characterization they do receive is full of old tropes (e.g. femme fatale who is evil because of sexual trauma, whore with a heart of gold, angry alpha male, wandering mystic).

    The plot takes inspiration from Game of Thrones, other Final Fantasy games, and superhero cliches without doing anything new with it. Over and over, I thought "I've seen this before." There are numerous cinematic shots and dialogues that veer too close to 1-to-1 copies of other material.

    But more than anything--the story takes itself too seriously. It tries to show you how bleak the world is over and over and over to the point where it loses meaning. It spews out dialogue at dramatic moments that reminds me of comic books I thought were deep and edgy as a kid. And nothing hints that the writers are self-aware of the cliches or stereotypes or dark farce they've created.

    Pacing: There are stretches of the game that feel like unnecessary filler and the pacing struggles, especially after the first half of the game. The game seems to think managing tension means separating cinematic set pieces with boring MMO-like quest design. "Go here, filler talk with this person, go here, fight 3 mobs, go here, etc." It also has a weird sense of time because there is a 5-year story skip.... but it feels like almost nothing happened during that time. This is one way the world feels shallow, everything clearly revolves around the main character.

    Combat Difficulty: There is only one combat difficulty until you reach New Game+. You can automate combat with accessories, but you can't make it harder. During the first story playthrough, combat follows a pattern of something like trash-trash-formidable foe-trash-boss. Bosses are the only mobs with significant combat mechanics and thinking required. Supposedly a lot of that trash is replaced with formidable foes in harder difficulties, which would go a long way to making combat last longer and feel more engaging. Instead, interesting encounters are rationed out every 2-3 hours of gameplay. There is no reason to gate harder settings other than an artificial attempt to prolong game time.

    Overall: I don’t regret playing the game, but I will hesitate to buy another game from this team. The fluid combat is fun; the cinematic fights are unparalleled; but the story and characters are a mishmash of cliches that take themselves way too seriously and the uneven pacing ultimately made the game feel too much like a chore. When I finally completed the game my overwhelming feeling was relief at being done.    … Expand
  63. 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
  64. DreamCore90
    Jul 12, 2023
    7
    Too start off, much better than the joke of a game called FF15.

    However, the game has 3 major flaws: 1. Performance issues, even on Frame Rate mode. The frame rate is frequently in the low 40s. I would expect a performance mode to manage 60 fps most of the time. 2. The side quests are as bad and tedious as ever. Combine this with the fact that you get little to no rewards for    Too start off, much better than the joke of a game called FF15.

    However, the game has 3 major flaws:

    1. Performance issues, even on Frame Rate mode. The frame rate is frequently in the low 40s. I would expect a performance mode to manage 60 fps most of the time.

    2. The side quests are as bad and tedious as ever. Combine this with the fact that you get little to no rewards for doing them. It's unfortunate they didn't learn from FF15.

    3. TOO. MUCH. FILLER. The main story has lots of amazing moments, but suffers from too much tedious filler content in between. This makes parts of the story a real drag and makes the pacing very uneaven.

    Overall, a big step up from the FF15 trash, but far from the FF golden days (FF7, FF8, FF9, FF10, FF12). The FF7 Remake is by far a better game.    … Expand
  65. UhtredTheGreat
    Aug 28, 2023
    7
    game bugged and glitched so bad during the first 40 min. The story was rushed it seemed as well.
  66. DarkAuron90
    Aug 8, 2023
    7
    Millenials will tell you this is the best FF ever made. For me is one of the worst. Don't get me wrong, the game is not so bad. I am 33 and i play FF since i am 12. Im not judging the evolution in action style, it's just that this game is really boring. It has so many cons if compared to the the FF pillars. Huge lack of contents, no mini games, no secrets, the combat system that is greatMillenials will tell you this is the best FF ever made. For me is one of the worst. Don't get me wrong, the game is not so bad. I am 33 and i play FF since i am 12. Im not judging the evolution in action style, it's just that this game is really boring. It has so many cons if compared to the the FF pillars. Huge lack of contents, no mini games, no secrets, the combat system that is great but really usless, the game is to easy and the FF mode it's an excuse to make the game longer. It miss all the RPG components, and there is no effective magic in this game, no parameters. Is too linear, even the crafting is linear as hell and so basic. This game has good particles system, good combat system, good boos fights and a great story and technically it is good but this is by no means enough if compared to the best Final Fantasy games. I feel to much laziness in some comparts of the game and in my opinion the graphic of the 15th is even more enjoyable. Even if the 15th (in the windows edition) with all its flaws in my opinion is more FF and more funny than the 16th chapter. Im not satisfied considering the hype.… Expand
  67. SaberMajora
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Game is great, but the performance is **** I also hate how I only play the game for like 20 mins, then a 30 min cutscene every 5 mins.
  68. 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
  69. 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
  70. 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.
  71. Akatsubaki
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Yo no hago muchas reseñas enserio solo salgo hablar de un juego cuando es enteramente necesario y pienso que este es el momento, compre este video juego por que al ver el título Final Fantasy es algo que siempre me alegra, me emociona pero la verdad es que mi temor se hizo realidad este juego al igual que muchos de los últimos que pertenecen a la saga de FF no está ni cerca de ser un dignoYo no hago muchas reseñas enserio solo salgo hablar de un juego cuando es enteramente necesario y pienso que este es el momento, compre este video juego por que al ver el título Final Fantasy es algo que siempre me alegra, me emociona pero la verdad es que mi temor se hizo realidad este juego al igual que muchos de los últimos que pertenecen a la saga de FF no está ni cerca de ser un digno portador del nombre FINAL FANTASY, dicho lo anterior la verdad este video juego como Final Fantasy es malo, este juego es un fusión de Chaos Legion y Devil May Cry, no lo vean como un Final Fantasy para que lo puedan disfrutar, tiene un apartado visual hermoso, combate fluido, buena historia, la dificultad naaaaa, pero no culpen al juego si no a Squarenix, quien causo el daño, ya que son ellos quienes no entienden, que usar el nombre Final Fantasy en un juego es una carga enorme, si han de culpar a alguien culpen a Squarenix por no crear este juego como un título diferente, lo digo como un mega fan de la saga y con una opinión objetiva.… Expand
  72. 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
  73. kratosmuscle
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Right now after playing like 30 hours and reaching lv38 I feel like this game is a 7,5 at this moment. If the port wasn't 720p 30-60fps in performance mode but a steady 60 fps this would be an 8 for me. So this number can still change to 8. Now you may ask why not a higher score well the reason is there is too much filler content. If they got rid of all the dumb side content except for theRight now after playing like 30 hours and reaching lv38 I feel like this game is a 7,5 at this moment. If the port wasn't 720p 30-60fps in performance mode but a steady 60 fps this would be an 8 for me. So this number can still change to 8. Now you may ask why not a higher score well the reason is there is too much filler content. If they got rid of all the dumb side content except for the bounties this would have been like a 9 but those side missions really drag down the pacing because the main story is really interesting and the setpieces etc are really a feast to enjoy. But those side quests missions are also a part of the main story where you have to gather stuff to continue the main quest which also feels like stuff that would have been better to get rid of. If you take all the missions from the arcade mode with only the bounties in some of those open spaces then the game would have been a much better experience. So yeah right now I'm really enjoying the game when it comes to the story parts because those are super epic the other stuff should just be rid off. Also the combat is awesome but I feel like being able to put 4 to 5 eikons on the d pad instead of 3 eikons that you can switch through with l2 would have made the combat experience and depth much better as well as an extra button like to expand the normal moveset. Right now there is depth but doesn't even come close to the greats like dmc5. If they added all that stuff the game would have been a masterpiece but right now it's just a good game.… Expand
  74. Rafamunar
    Jul 4, 2023
    7
    The Epic fights are the only thing rescue the Game yo the hell, the rest is Bad design anda is boring
  75. Rpgcrow
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    I'm giving the game a very strong 7
    It deserves all the praise it is getting but it does have one very big glaring flaw.
    That's how long and frequent the cutscenes are and the game feels very unbalanced with its gameplay to cutscene ratio. It feels like the game is 50% cutscenes 40% gameplay. Now that can make this game someone's new favorite final fantasy game expecially if someone enjoy    I'm giving the game a very strong 7
    It deserves all the praise it is getting but it does have one very big glaring flaw.
    That's how long and frequent the cutscenes are and the game feels very unbalanced with its gameplay to cutscene ratio.
    It feels like the game is 50% cutscenes 40% gameplay.
    Now that can make this game someone's new favorite final fantasy game expecially if someone enjoy cinematic game experiences.
    Sadly I am not one of the.
    And I personally can't give the game anything higher then a 7.
    But what the game does well it does really well.
    The combat is fun, the story and characters are great, the world in engaging .
    Clive is the best Final fantasy protangists we had in a long time.
    The action set pieces are spectacular But sadly the game constantly slows down and a crawl and I personally can't give it anything higher then 7 despite my praise due to how much I'm forced to put the controller down. Overall a good game and I recommend it to most people it just has its glaring flaws like most modern final fantasy games    … Expand
  76. MikeScates
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    It's not that bad a game - it's just not an FF game. Story wise yes, it's as convoluted as any other FF game. Music is on point as always is with FF games. Just the combat is well off pace. Outside of eikon battles (just did the Typhon fight, which was awesome), the combat lacks impact. Combos are great to pull off, air juggling with Garuda brings me Nero vibes from DMC, but enemiesIt's not that bad a game - it's just not an FF game. Story wise yes, it's as convoluted as any other FF game. Music is on point as always is with FF games. Just the combat is well off pace. Outside of eikon battles (just did the Typhon fight, which was awesome), the combat lacks impact. Combos are great to pull off, air juggling with Garuda brings me Nero vibes from DMC, but enemies feel spongy. Parrying and dodging are too op and the windows should be shortened. They should of made this a non mainline FF game to appease some of the back lash from die hard turn based fans. Doesn't deserve the hate it's getting from the fanbase , but doesn't deserve the praise either. It's just a good game - 7/10.… Expand
  77. 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
  78. 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.
  79. ManuFrame
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    El juego me está gustando, pero sinceramente este nuevo motor que han desarrollado no da la talla y a la vista está.
    Del modo rendimiento no voy a decir nada es una tomadura de pelo y se nota que no han invertido tiempo en el.
    El modo calidad, bueno realmente noto que en ocasiones no va a 30 FPS, el Blur y el desenfoque lo encuentro exagerado y está haciendo que no pueda disfrutar 100% del    El juego me está gustando, pero sinceramente este nuevo motor que han desarrollado no da la talla y a la vista está.
    Del modo rendimiento no voy a decir nada es una tomadura de pelo y se nota que no han invertido tiempo en el.
    El modo calidad, bueno realmente noto que en ocasiones no va a 30 FPS, el Blur y el desenfoque lo encuentro exagerado y está haciendo que no pueda disfrutar 100% del juego    … Expand
  80. 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
  81. mlhope0
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    The combat is fun, but it's held back by on-rails RPG progression. It's also spaced out by chunks of fetch quests and long dialogue cinematics that are often uninteresting and padded with awkward silence between "cuts."

    Still, the teams behind the hero cinematics and Eikon battles deserve a lot of praise for making up for the game's shortcomings.
  82. PedroR0
    Jun 23, 2023
    7
    Es muy buen juego, espectacular en sus efectos visuales, buena música, buen protagonista, más que aceptable historia. Normalmente a un juego así le pondría un 8/10 pero como alguien que ha jugado casi todos los FF anteriores me molesta que se hayan alejado tanto de la fórmula original haciéndolo casi irreconocible.
    Debieron lanzarlo con otro nombre.
  83. 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!
  84. Thom17
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    The story is very interesting and good, you always want to know how it continues. The game is a story driven so I already knew it would be good
    Speaking of gameplay, i found it very easy, not boring, but even with bosses its very hard to die. Developers also decided that during boss fights you get to respawn at the moment you died with full hp, and you really have no challenge then.
    Fetch    The story is very interesting and good, you always want to know how it continues. The game is a story driven so I already knew it would be good
    Speaking of gameplay, i found it very easy, not boring, but even with bosses its very hard to die. Developers also decided that during boss fights you get to respawn at the moment you died with full hp, and you really have no challenge then.
    Fetch quests at this time should be very low or nonexistent, but this game has so many of them and it becomes very, very boring.
    Speaking about exploration is personal: I have heard many people saying they prefer this linear way to explore the world, and many others not liking it. Personally I don't find exploration very funny.
    I found very bad their decision to completely eliminate the party, you only have to build the main character and that is very unusual for a JRPG.
    The OST is amazing!
    So I think ffxvi is a good game, but it failed in so many aspects imo.    … Expand
  85. 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
  86. FeoGamer
    Jul 7, 2023
    7
    Lo bueno
    Una historia más adulta con intrigas palaciegas
    Sistema de combate hack and Slash
    BSO espectacular
    Doblado a español latino
    Diseño artístico de los eikons

    Lo malo
    Desenfoque de movimiento mareante
    Caídas de frames
    Misiones secundarias de recadero
  87. Valzan1a
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    It's an enjoyable game but it's not rpg imo. It's an action hack n slash. The combat is repetitive. There isn't really a skill tree. It's just abilities which you can only have 2 per element slotted. It's boring after a while especially with how spongey some enemies are. The story is the only thing keeping engaged. I don't knock square enix for trying to appeal to a broader audience I justIt's an enjoyable game but it's not rpg imo. It's an action hack n slash. The combat is repetitive. There isn't really a skill tree. It's just abilities which you can only have 2 per element slotted. It's boring after a while especially with how spongey some enemies are. The story is the only thing keeping engaged. I don't knock square enix for trying to appeal to a broader audience I just pine for the old school Final fantasy days. It's a decent game for what it is but I can't justify all the 10/10s.… Expand
  88. LilLehmann
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Final Fantasy 16 is the game I needed but didn't get completely. Story is damn good and interesting every second. The new combat system is glorious and a lot of fun. Characters are well written and fit perfectly. I love that the world is again broken up into linear sections which not only allows for nicer areas but doesn't feel as cluttered as in FFXV. Now for the criticisms. No game hasFinal Fantasy 16 is the game I needed but didn't get completely. Story is damn good and interesting every second. The new combat system is glorious and a lot of fun. Characters are well written and fit perfectly. I love that the world is again broken up into linear sections which not only allows for nicer areas but doesn't feel as cluttered as in FFXV. Now for the criticisms. No game has disappointed me as much this year as FFXVI. As a developer, how can you rave about how well the game runs and not notice that it very often has severe frame drops, even in cutscenes and very often goes down to 720p in performance mode and even then doesn't keep the 60fps .. I don't know what i would recommend to people if they want to have a next gen experience that in quality mode you have 4k(upscaled) and 30fps that is not next gen, in performance mode you have 1080p(but very often 720p) and 35-60fps that is too no Next Gen I'm really disappointed and I'm starting to wonder if the developers want to make our hobby bad for us.… Expand
  89. Zierona
    Jun 25, 2023
    7
    Honestly, I'm not sure why this game is rated as highly as it gets. It's alright but ultimately the combat is fine, the story is fine and has some great moments but it's ultimately predictable. The world is beautiful and the graphics are great, but some of the animations and motion blurring are kinda bad. The music is probably some of the worse in a mainline final fantasy game, and SokenHonestly, I'm not sure why this game is rated as highly as it gets. It's alright but ultimately the combat is fine, the story is fine and has some great moments but it's ultimately predictable. The world is beautiful and the graphics are great, but some of the animations and motion blurring are kinda bad. The music is probably some of the worse in a mainline final fantasy game, and Soken is capable of so much better.

    It's miles better than Final Fantasy 13, better than 15. But it's still not quite up there with the classics, MMO's asside Final Fantasy wont ever be what it used to be
    The games good, it's just not 10/10 it does nothing revolutionary that games previously haven't already done, some released many years ago have done it better.    … Expand
  90. 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
  91. moantry
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    Not a bad game at all. Just got repetitive for me. But the first few hours and especially the last few hours are **** fantastic.

    Its just the side quests that kinda made me not love it as much as I wanted to.

    But for sure get the game!
  92. 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
  93. OcelotBoy
    Jun 26, 2023
    7
    I am genuinely confused why this game is being praised the way it is. While I admit that the combat was pretty good, and the presentation was absolutely stellar, I don't think the game has much else going for it either.

    Gameplay: 8/10 Combat is pretty good. Not the deepest or most innovative system, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying to pull off long combos and be treated    I am genuinely confused why this game is being praised the way it is. While I admit that the combat was pretty good, and the presentation was absolutely stellar, I don't think the game has much else going for it either.

    Gameplay: 8/10

    Combat is pretty good. Not the deepest or most innovative system, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying to pull off long combos and be treated to the audio-visual effects and numbers popping up all over the screen. Not much else outside of combat though. Sidequest stories can be pretty great, but the gameplay design is just so dated and tedious. The lack of any meaningful itemization (outside of a handful of accessories) really hurts the gameplay loop, as while the combat is quite fun, it's not quite deep or varied enough to carry the entire game by itself. If only the game was a little bit more of an RPG, it could go a long way to give it more substance in the long term.

    Story: 6/10

    Yeesh. The story felt pretty good up until the second major time skip, when the game decided to throw away all the political drama set up in favor of a typical JRPG 'save the world' plot with terrible one-dimensional villains. Many of the 'main characters' also feel quite a bit underbaked, like the game never really gave any of them enough development to properly earn their major story beats. So many dramatic moments in the game were absolutely ruined for me because characters kept saying and doing things that made no sense, with some of the worst offenders actually making me physically cringe. Can hardly believe that this was brought to me by the same people who created Emet-Selch.

    Graphics/Performance: 8/10

    The game's presentation in terms of audio and visual design is fantastic. The sound and visual effects are always satisfying, and are a big part of what makes the combat so enjoyable for me. The Eikon battles are also quite impressive, enough to make me really not care about their rather stripped-down gameplay. The voice-acting is also perhaps the best Square Enix has to offer, which is unsurprising considering that localization has always been one of FF14's strongest points. The impressive visuals even succeed at hiding some of the game's flaws, like how the vast backdrops and larger-than-life structures work to make the game's world feel larger and more open than it actually is.

    It's not all great though, and the use of the FF14 engine does make a lot of the NPC animations look rather stiff outside of animated cutscenes, leaving the game looking a bit dated at certain points. The performance also leaves something to be desired, with noticeable frame drops during key moments in both Framerate and Graphics mode. But these complaints are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

    Overall, I don't think FF16 is an awful game, but it's also just totally not the mind-blowing game so many people seem to be calling it. Saying this is GOTY worthy puts it on par with God of War or Elden Ring, and that is just crazy to me.    … Expand
  94. hasaat
    Jun 27, 2023
    7
    I'll rate the game from 3 different angles.

    (Main Plot - Characters) Top, the story was very captivating and the serious tone felt strange considering it's a Final Fantasy game but it was so welcome Loved it. ((10 out of 10)) (Graphics - Character Models - Music) Amazing, The music was awesome, the graphics was breathtaking. the character models was amazing for the most    I'll rate the game from 3 different angles.

    (Main Plot - Characters)

    Top, the story was very captivating and the serious tone felt strange considering it's a Final Fantasy game but it was so welcome Loved it.

    ((10 out of 10))

    (Graphics - Character Models - Music)

    Amazing, The music was awesome, the graphics was breathtaking.

    the character models was amazing for the most part, there were some parts however that felt a bit off but overall was great.

    ((9.5 out of 10))

    (Fight Mechanic - Quests - Exploration - Equipment)

    This is where the game lacks a lot in my opinion, and I'll go in details.

    Fighting system: gets better as you continue playing, but still feels chaotic and most of the time you won't understand what is actually hitting you with all the effects screen, for a game that wants you to be precise and dodge parry they sure made it hard to do that, especially when you cast some spells, you won't see anything, literally, yes I'm looking at you wind girl.

    Quests: Outright BORING, I literally felt sleepy each time I'm doing quests and with the amount of boredom I starting skipping all the dialogs just get it over with, and even with that was really bad :(.

    Exploration: Seriously, I see a shiny item guarded by a tough enemy, killed the enemy, only to find it's "2 Gil" or this damned "Sharp Fang", I lost interest in exploring mid game and just followed the main quest, really poor.

    Equipment: Man, this was soooo lazy, no interesting item whatsoever, no perks no nothing, upgrading your weapon means (from 5 to 10 attack) that's it, even the best weapon in the game, accessories the same (Increase damage - Reduce Cooldown), no creativity

    This part is where the game lacks so much.

    (( 4 out of 10))

    Overall the game gets carried heavily by the story and the graphics, the gameplay was just lacking so much unfortunately.

    Final Verdict: 7.8 out of 10, and no thanks to the gameplay of the game.    … Expand
  95. Domova
    Jun 27, 2023
    7
    The story is entertaining in this game and the Eikon battles are breathtakingly gorgeous and fun. That’s pretty much it, the game is permanently on rails with slightly open areas that give little to no rewards. There is no difficulty slider, so you have to play on Easy or Very Easy for your first playthrough.

    The RPGs elements are dumbed down and may aswell not exist. Lip syncing is off    The story is entertaining in this game and the Eikon battles are breathtakingly gorgeous and fun. That’s pretty much it, the game is permanently on rails with slightly open areas that give little to no rewards. There is no difficulty slider, so you have to play on Easy or Very Easy for your first playthrough.

    The RPGs elements are dumbed down and may aswell not exist.
    Lip syncing is off in most cutscenes.
    Gear may aswell not exist, very small stat increases for each weapon tier and accessories provide some damage % to a specific skill of a cool-down decrease.
    The ability tree also may aswell not exist.

    While named Final Fantasy it may aswell be a Devil May Cry spin off, it’s structured very similar and has about as much “RPG” in it as DMC.

    The highs in this game are extremely high, but the lows are extremely low, which sucks the enjoyment a little bit out of the game, but then a high comes again and you manage to put up with the low, mundane MMO style questing.

    It seems they took the worst of FF14 and the worst of DMC and smushed it together. The game also suffers from performance issues, several times my PS5 has told me to turn off due to overheating issues.

    Gameplay doesn’t reward exploring combat, trash will die in an eikon ability or 2, while bosses who can’t be juggled or anything are complete damage sponges. I enjoyed my playthrough, it’s not the best Final Fantasy but it’s not the worst either. If you can put up with the low periods inbetween the high periods, you’ll enjoy the game. I do have to say that anyone giving it perfect scores is completely blinded by hype. The game doesn’t deserve a 0 but it certainly isn’t a 10 by any means,    … Expand
  96. Simular
    Jun 27, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After doing all the sidequest and main mission. I can say that this game needed more time through its concept. It has the right ideas but poorly executed. You can still have fun but that fun will deteriorate as soon as half way through. Most of the abilities you obtain are gatekeep by point system in that you can obtain by gaining reputation points by doing side quests in which most are so boring.

    Pros:
    - scenery/graphics
    - cinematics
    - world building
    - combat ( Although it gets so easy you almost don't need to use health regenation)
    - Boss battle are really cinematic.
    - Music slams. Only thing in this game that is perfect. Headquarter music was soothing. Fighting sequence is good. Everything is good in each section.
    - Voice acting is good

    Cons
    - Side character development is trash. No talking in between. Silent. Jill especially. It's silent in between cinematic. The most development they had was through side quest that will most likely be missed because of how poorly structured most of the side quests are. People will most likely miss it.
    - Combat is way too easy.
    - Side quest are too much like a worse version of a ubisoft side quest until you get to the late game in which you wrap up each character focus quest. It's get this, get that. I need help and this wouldn't be a problem if the combat was so easy. Each mission takes 1 minute combat and a bunch of talking.
    - chest that I notice that drop something good is one. Most of the time, they were materials that can be gained elsewhere
    - exploring is redundant in that most of the section are explored via quest but the things you loot is literally 10 gil. Most of the items except consumables are 10k plus. Although this is negated with the hunt system in which you hunt beast that either give you upto 20k gil and materials for legendary weapon/armor/gloves
    - Weapons are cosmetics that provide only attack/defense upgrade. The special weapons do not have any special effects. Atleast add special effects if the weapons is crafted by titan material for example
    - The torgal system should have included more characters. For example, up d pad could either be jill/torgal/etc. You can input which character are "controlled" in which could have mediated that fact that there isn't a party system.

    Thoughts that I really did not mind
    - Some people want more rpg elements but that's fine with what they are trying to build. It's an action-adventure game.    … Expand
  97. 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
  98. 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
  99. Nogradis
    Aug 5, 2023
    7
    It started very strong, but fell short of expectations after a dozen of hours in. It's a fine game and you will have a lot of fun with it, but there are some elements (especially side quests - ALL of them) that could be done better. A step into the right direction for sure, but we are not yet there.
  100. HostileUnknown
    Jun 30, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wrote a 5000 character review, but metacritic failed and I lost my review.

    I will summarize. The game is very good, not great. The first 75% of the game is vastly superior to the final 25%. There are many things to praise, like the epic moments and the fun combat, and many things to criticize, like the lack of depth to the combat and party characters. While I'm at it, I'll also criticize the FPS and worst motion blur in a game ever. And I'll praise the story and lore creation. Custcenes in the game are also excellent.

    Eikon moments are absolutely awesome. Leviathan is "Lost", and absent from the game entirely, which is super confusing. Odin doesn't get a proper Eikon battle, but does have some great cutscenes. Ultima is really lame and underwhelming.

    Voice acting is top notch. Dialogue is good. Great at points, cringe at others. Profanity is fine to introduce, but it is overdone. No one repeats "F F F F F F F" in a string of words, literally. The final part of the game does become overly dramatic with the characters dialogues.

    Characters themselves are mostly very good. Clive is excellent, but the game and subsequent supporting characters suffer from Clive being a one man army. There are however, other lovable characters, like Byron and Cid and Torgal. Other hatable characters like Annabelle and Benedikta and Barnabas. Other characters somewhere in between. Strong cast, but none of them are as deeply explored as Clive, and the game would be better if some of these and other characters would have been more fleshed out.

    The open areas of the game, and pacing of the story sections I think give me hope for FF7 Rebirth to absolutely knock it out of the park.

    There's a lot of good to like in this game. I would love to give all of my feedback to the devs, because they created a very good game, an excellent one at parts, but one that is held back by a number of things, as well as missing the boat on something can make a final fantasy game truly special. It's like they gambled it all on combat that would be fun and welcoming, while all but abandoning core elements of rpgs and final fantasy games that have gained them their player base over the years.

    For me, this is like a 7.5/10. It's absolutely worth a playthrough, as I'm well into the NG+. There's also so much room for improvement, and it would be really nice for Final Fantasy to return to form after 15 and 16 (and to some extent, 13 and even 12), kind of strayed from it to varying extents.

    As a final point, FF7 remake is the closest to a true modern FF game that we have, and I hope beyond hope that rebirth delivers an epic experience and creates the benchmark on how FF games should play going forward. Well developed characters, well developed story, and a combat system that is true to form to final fantasy, where magic and abilities and gear and items all work together to create a full FF experience.    … Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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]
See all critic reviews »