Final Fantasy XVI

 PlayStation 5
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8567 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6,528 out of 8567
  2. Mixed: 693 out of 8567
  3. Negative: 1,346 out of 8567
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  1. ImpishGamer
    Jun 28, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Final Fantasy was overall a good game, also this is not the first time Square Enix has strayed from turn-based combat cough * crisis core* sorry something was in my throat anyway as *cough* "Lightning returns.. ah man hold on * drinks water anyways. the music score is as always amazing work. there is definitely an overhaul of mid-fight cutscenes.… Expand
  2. jetb
    Jun 28, 2023
    8
    Little to no side content, nothing to explore nor any incentive for doing so & motion blur is too distracting are my only complaints.
  3. Arrrchaic
    Jun 28, 2023
    8
    Amazing, spectacular, possibly my personal most favorite game of all time. Expectations were blown completely out of the park. My only major gripes are that some of the side quests aren't exactly streamlined, and that it isn't on PC. Abolish console exclusives!!! Excited for the PC release.
  4. Euphonion_Venoa
    Jun 28, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Suitable for people who enjoy video games purely as entertainment.
    Don't expect big surprises    … Expand
  5. PenultimateFan
    Jul 1, 2023
    8
    About: huge FF fan, played all mainline entries & most spin-offs plus MMO’s.

    Critic score seems overly generous. I desperately wanted XVI to achieve perfect scores, demo raised optimism, but awarding 100% is undeserved (exaggerated fandom?). Having experienced XIV from initial launch to remake, I knew what to expect from Yoshi P & MMO team. Turned out concerns were warranted, but they    About: huge FF fan, played all mainline entries & most spin-offs plus MMO’s.

    Critic score seems overly generous. I desperately wanted XVI to achieve perfect scores, demo raised optimism, but awarding 100% is undeserved (exaggerated fandom?). Having experienced XIV from initial launch to remake, I knew what to expect from Yoshi P & MMO team. Turned out concerns were warranted, but they still managed to build a superb game probably ranking 6th amongst my favourite Final Fantasies.

    Music 10/10
    Great & grew on me throughout: catchy, suspenseful, atmospheric & fits the moment more often than not. Never quite hitting heights of Uematsu’s genius — a tough ask as he’s in his own untouchable tier. Soken meanwhile is top of also-rans, demonstrating consistency, versatility & production quality, albeit surprisingly quirky in parts.

    Combat 7/10
    Shift was a big talking point I found interesting with plenty of choices on the skill tree, but I soon figured you could get away with ability spam & there’s very little challenge or strategy required if keeping equipment upgraded, even for S rank hunts. It becomes somewhat automatic & akin to MMO-style “cooldown” combat with a faster pace. Very flashy and responsive with a lot happening on screen that it’s almost a firework show with numbers plastered everywhere. Often difficult to see the character models. It definitely keeps you busy but a lack of status effects, item variety & proper magic spells simplifies things greatly. I have seen videos of people performing “sick combo’s” that flow seamlessly, but that’s completely unnecessary & requires you to work harder for the same outcome unless you are concerned with number output. FF7R has the upper hand in this department, offering a mix of action & turn-based, being overall the more interesting approach & can be played like an action game if the player chooses. I personally prefer having control of multiple party members with different styles.

    Graphics & Visuals 9/10
    The world of Valisthea is beautiful, grand & unexpectedly breathtaking mixed in with a few other drab landscapes. Overall visuals are of a high quality & warrant next-gen status. Performance mode is so inconsistent that I unusually went all-in on fidelity. Concerns of linearity are addressed early on as areas don’t appear claustrophobic without being fully open world. It maintains the right balance for story focus while allowing exploration as each region opens up. One of the main issues is that exploration is largely unrewarding in terms of items & gear. Loot in general is lacking and underwhelming, including most quest rewards. Some iffy animations.

    MINOR SPOILER: summons (Eikons) take the stage in a new way & these battles sometimes overshadow anything I’ve seen in gaming thus far, even eclipsing Marvel movies.

    Gameplay 6/10
    The is an apparent lack of traditional RPG elements where stats are concerned. Everything has been streamlined or even “dumbed-down” as some might say, possibly to expand appeal to newer fans without being overwhelming. Equipment choices are somewhat limited if you enjoy different builds & the next upgrade is almost always available to increase the few numbers that matter. Accessories offer time reductions to certain ability usage & damage increases, though this is barely relevant in the grand scheme of things. There are also ones that increase item potency, which are plentiful anyway if you can time dodges well.

    Characters 9/10
    Interesting & I cared deeply about most of the core group. Voice acting is performed well, but opinions may vary depending on taste (I did not think Ralph Ineson as Cid fit the character despite being familiar with the actor beforehand — it might have even suited Hugo more who I found dramatically awful).

    Story 9/10
    Fantastic, satisfying & shocking in parts, I was intrigued & excited for then next segment to arrive. The pacing is questionable as there are large lulls in between. My main gripe is that there are far too many inexcusably uninteresting side quests. How anyone can find fetch quests to be their idea of fun is baffling. Luckily they can be skipped entirely unless you want some extra rewards from the ??? points they give. However, I would advise to not miss the important quests having a plus icon. Or, in some cases if you want extra world-building lore then they’re also worthwhile. Being a completionist I was extremely bored by the halfway point. Most serve purely to extend the length of the game which could be half as many hours long without.

    Major positive: fleshed-out world & lore. Fellow Game of Thrones fans will notice many similarities. Lore system is incredible & may spend lots of time reading archives (sadly locked behind an NPC!). Active time lore feature a nice addition — pausing during cutscenes becomes quite distracting if used too frequently.

    TLDR; solid game w/ some inconsistencies, shallowness & genre clichés/tropes    … Expand
  6. pakle
    Jul 1, 2023
    8
    This game is F U N.
    1. Combat is top notch.
    2. Animations, cutscenes and graphic are mind blowing and industry defining. 3. Story is great. This game is also NOT an RPG. You can edit your eikons, to a different play style, but there's no gear, stats, minigame, dialogue that will meaningfully change your experience in a way that is unique to you. Gear could not exist, and the change    This game is F U N.
    1. Combat is top notch.
    2. Animations, cutscenes and graphic are mind blowing and industry defining.
    3. Story is great.
    This game is also NOT an RPG. You can edit your eikons, to a different play style, but there's no gear, stats, minigame, dialogue that will meaningfully change your experience in a way that is unique to you. Gear could not exist, and the change would be minimal.
    Gil are just a way to get orchestrion rolls.
    With just a couple of minigames, some hidden secrets, this would be a 11/10.
    AH, side quests are fine. The ones at the beginning are quite boring, later they define the world as well as giving you some materials to craft the strongest weapons.    … Expand
  7. samueldang1801
    Jul 1, 2023
    8
    I will rate this game at least 8/10, no way this game can be lower. The side quest is not good (but some of them is). This game overall is totally work the money. And the biggest plus is the story and music, it just hit so deep. I love this game, this is what I hope frome the Devs of FF14. I hope this game will have a DLC.
  8. Shinryu98
    Jul 2, 2023
    8
    Okay, let's be clear.
    The game is certainly awesome but far from being perfect and it pains me because i'm a huge FF fan.
    The quests are just horrendous, despite the stories behind them being interesting (sometimes). The gameplay is very responsive, flashy and satisfactory however, it can get old pretty quickly. Nevertheless, i would call it a must play. The game could be a GOTY contender    Okay, let's be clear.
    The game is certainly awesome but far from being perfect and it pains me because i'm a huge FF fan.
    The quests are just horrendous, despite the stories behind them being interesting (sometimes). The gameplay is very responsive, flashy and satisfactory however, it can get old pretty quickly.
    Nevertheless, i would call it a must play.
    The game could be a GOTY contender but the flaws doesn't help it.    … Expand
  9. cringeOpinion
    Jul 2, 2023
    8
    This is a very average Final Fantasy game that lacks polish.
    Pros:
    - Clive is a great protagonist, one of the best in the series. Jill is a good love interest and Cid is one of the best characters in the series. - Graphics are incredible. - Eikon fights are an awe inspiring spectacle. - Real time action combat is an improvement over some of the hybrid approaches attempted in the past.    This is a very average Final Fantasy game that lacks polish.
    Pros:
    - Clive is a great protagonist, one of the best in the series. Jill is a good love interest and Cid is one of the best characters in the series.
    - Graphics are incredible.
    - Eikon fights are an awe inspiring spectacle.
    - Real time action combat is an improvement over some of the hybrid approaches attempted in the past.
    - The game is a finished product. Its not obvious that some parts were released in an incomplete state.
    - Active time lore is a nice system and implemented well. The text is very brief and digestible and adds to game.

    Cons:
    - The lack of a party that you can switch between in combat makes it not feel like a FF title. Characters not commenting, talking or doing skits while exploring ruin immersion.
    - The ability system is stupid. You can at level 40 unlock everything and respec at will to have whatever loadout you want. Any additional leveling is just for stats.
    - Sidequest & Journal UI ruin suspension of disbelief. Older titles had quests but they where given that taxonomy by their nature. Making a distinction between types of quests in the UI ruin the suspension of disbelief and distract from the roleplaying in the game.
    - Sidequest pacing is just bad. Having a bunch of busywork to do right before an interesting story point ruins the fun.
    - The small mob variety ruins immersion. There's like 10 types of enemies that get re-used throughout the game. It gets boring relly quickly.
    - Treasure in the game tends to be crafting materials you will never use.
    - The story is really not that memorable and the ending is not satisfying.

    Overall I would not recommend someone purchase a PS5 to play the game like I did. It might be nice to get if you have nothing to play, but watching someone else play it will probably be just as satisfying if you only care about the plot. Then you can atleast skip the annoying sidequests.    … Expand
  10. MoistMelon
    Jul 2, 2023
    8
    Hours Played: 50
    The story, dialogue, voice acting and the characters are absolutely fantastic. The combat is also fantastic. It is easy to grasp but hard to master. The open zone design is beautifully implemented, but unfortunately, the game does not give you a lot of incentive to explore these open zones. Enemy variety is also unfortunately lacking, which is disappointing considering    Hours Played: 50
    The story, dialogue, voice acting and the characters are absolutely fantastic. The combat is also fantastic. It is easy to grasp but hard to master. The open zone design is beautifully implemented, but unfortunately, the game does not give you a lot of incentive to explore these open zones. Enemy variety is also unfortunately lacking, which is disappointing considering the Final Fantasy series has a massive range of monsters in the series. Between the main scenario plot points, the game gets you to carry out tasks for your team mates and associates in the game which just feels like padding which can make the pacing of the game feel very off at certain parts of the story. Performance is unfortunately not great. The boss fights and Eikon battles are some of the most draw dropping scenarios I have seen in a video game and are extremely fun to play and visually gorgeous. I wish I could score FF16 higher, but despite it's amazing highs, it has quite a few lows which takes from the experience.    … Expand
  11. Jayhawk145
    Aug 13, 2023
    8
    The Combat and the ability to customize your playstyle with each unique different skill makes that aspect alone a 10/10. The Boss battles and Ekion fights are a 10/10,

    While a lot of the "side quest" felt like a chore there were some side quests that explored and expanded on the characters and lore. Mix that in with epic Bounty Hunts, cool areas to explore, and Lore to unlock the    The Combat and the ability to customize your playstyle with each unique different skill makes that aspect alone a 10/10. The Boss battles and Ekion fights are a 10/10,

    While a lot of the "side quest" felt like a chore there were some side quests that explored and expanded on the characters and lore. Mix that in with epic Bounty Hunts, cool areas to explore, and Lore to unlock the overall side content is a 8/10

    The Story itself. The first 90 percent of the story, the world-building, and the Arcs that are happening are all engaging and might I say setting up to be a 10/10 climax/conclusion. But near the end of the game, once a lot of the "big reveals", start happening and the overall reason as to why things are the way they are, it all felt overall disappointing with what they ended up doing with the main antagonist, and the official direction the story went just isnt what was probably best, considering how it was being built up. But overall with a dissatisfying conclusion/antagonist the story itself is an easy 7/10 so overall I give FF16 a 8/10.    … Expand
  12. Piplup_Plays
    Jul 3, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While it is a great gameot isn't without flaws. Positives: the story and characters are great and engaging. You feel for the characters and hope specific things happen for them. The interactions and tension between the characters is extremely well written particularly between Clive and Jill. Cid is another stand out character. The soundtrack is also fantastic. Negatives: the combat is not very good, the need for a stagger bar on enemies just drags out fights. They also are very predictable. Kill mob, kill mob, kill mob and then more join with a tanky stagger enemy. There is also no benefit to doing flashy combos as they don't work well on tanky enemies and they are pointless to use on the weak mob enemies. You can't even use what would be super effective moves in this as the opposite elements do no bonus damage, and it feels wrong killing a bomb with a fire attack. They are living fire. The game is also missing main stay enemies like tonberry and cactuar etc. The combat feels like a less fleshed out devil may cry combat. While I do think the story is overall great... the ending sucks so much, it really falls flat at the end. The side quests are 75%-80% garbage fetch quests or go talk to x,y,z. They do have some that are fantastic but it's like 6 side quests. The item customisation/crafting is probably the worst I've seen in a final fantasy game in a long time, and the RPG mechanics are so thin they might as well not exist.

    The game is a great game overall, but it isn't without issues. It is also incredibly easy, which is both a plus and negative.    … Expand
  13. admiralsmurfs
    Jul 4, 2023
    8
    This game is great. Its animations, graphics and cinematic action sequences are all great and captivating. Its combos are rewarding. Its skills are varied. The combat is very fun. The action is extremely fluid. There is much to say about the amazing success from the collaboration of all the great minds that went into this game. The end game credits are nutty. They did a really great job. ]This game is great. Its animations, graphics and cinematic action sequences are all great and captivating. Its combos are rewarding. Its skills are varied. The combat is very fun. The action is extremely fluid. There is much to say about the amazing success from the collaboration of all the great minds that went into this game. The end game credits are nutty. They did a really great job. ]

    The story felt elongated towards the end which made the payoff feel less impressive. The lead up felt weakened to me instead of properly empowered by a resounding crescendo. Its high points were really high so it definitely had its peaks and valleys. The story itself is decent I would argue. Very enjoyable with great scenes and memorable lines. If Square Enix describes this game and its story as a thrilling roller coaster ride I would advise you to not lose the picture of the theme park due to one ride. Its actually a mix of rides. With lines in between of varying wait time to get back on the thrilling ride.

    The enemies were fairly easy and simple as well. I am happy they were not too hard but at times the fights seemed more necessary for prolonging the game rather than giving the player a challenge. Several I would argue were not important to the plot whatsoever. Some served solely as spoon fed XP.

    For any Final Fantasy fan I recommend playing this. I would consider this a must play. We should see, note and applaud the technical depths they went to to create a such a great combat system and see where else it can be applied in their history of games. Its different than the usual battle system but its a refreshing take on the games recurring themes via an action rpg presentation method.

    8/10    … Expand
  14. RaddyC
    Jul 5, 2023
    8
    The gameplay, characters, music, sidequests, and bosses absolutely the best in any game I've played in a long, long time. RPG mechanics and the main antagonist are absolutely awful and poorly written. The first 2/3 of 16's story are easily one of the best in any game in the last 15 years. I have never seen a game trip at the finish line quite as badly as Final Fantasy XVI. The mainThe gameplay, characters, music, sidequests, and bosses absolutely the best in any game I've played in a long, long time. RPG mechanics and the main antagonist are absolutely awful and poorly written. The first 2/3 of 16's story are easily one of the best in any game in the last 15 years. I have never seen a game trip at the finish line quite as badly as Final Fantasy XVI. The main offender was the main villain. I 100% get what they were going for, I really do. But it was handled in the least compelling way I can imagine. He is generic, bland, uninteresting and has been done dozens of times before.… Expand
  15. Zenomtfr20
    Jul 9, 2023
    8
    I Will be brief:
    1) The story is good. For the first time in like 15 years we have an engaging story again in an FF game.What holds it all up are the characters and the setting/lore of the game, because unfortunately the plot has a terribile pacing and quite a few plotholes. This however can be overlooked since the other elements of the story as I said are pretty great. We are no FFX level    I Will be brief:
    1) The story is good. For the first time in like 15 years we have an engaging story again in an FF game.What holds it all up are the characters and the setting/lore of the game, because unfortunately the plot has a terribile pacing and quite a few plotholes. This however can be overlooked since the other elements of the story as I said are pretty great. We are no FFX level of writing but this Is more than enough.
    2) The combat system is also great. You can tell this was made by action- games veterans like Suzuki who know what they are doing and know what makes a good action- game. My main problem would be the difficulty but FF games have never been super difficult and so this doesn't bother me that much personally. The lack of significant RPG elements could also be a let down, but I was expecting It anyway. Overall if they can tweak the difficulty with future patches than this could became the best battle system of amy FF game ever.
    3) Exploration and side quest: this is the weak point of this game. Don't go in expecting much from this department: there is nothing here. The exploration Is better than FF13 at least but that's not saying much. The game is mostly Linear during the dungeons and than there are FF12 -style open areas in between. The problem is that in those areas most of the time there really is nothing of interest to be found( there are exceptions) except crafting materials. Regarding the side quest I didn't do them because I don't have patience but I heard they are garbage from a gameplay standpoint but good if you want to know more of the world, characters ecc... so make of that information what you will.
    Conclusions: this game is not perfect in fact It has many flaws but it's the First FF since 12 that feels complete and coherent with itself. If you are an old FF fan that has lost faith in the series after the many flops of recent years, please try this game. It's not one of the best FF games out there but it's certanly not bad or one of the worst.    … Expand
  16. Roxxxx
    Jul 12, 2023
    8
    I gotta say I have a mixed feelings for this game, this game brought me into the PS5 community which I have been dreaming for atleast 3 years, and when the demo was released, I was so impressed by its gameplay and the story. But after I trying to play the New Game + mode, I found out that the story of the game and also the ability tree itself is actually not that good. The story itself wasI gotta say I have a mixed feelings for this game, this game brought me into the PS5 community which I have been dreaming for atleast 3 years, and when the demo was released, I was so impressed by its gameplay and the story. But after I trying to play the New Game + mode, I found out that the story of the game and also the ability tree itself is actually not that good. The story itself was a mess, and the ability tree is kind of useless, at the middle of the whole game, the score was supposed to be 10/10, but once I finished it, I think 8 scores is already the highest mark that I can give. Sorry YoshiP, I think you can blame Square Enix for that :P… Expand
  17. johnnymike91
    Jul 16, 2023
    8
    First off let me say, this is a great game. But how does it hold up to the entire FF franchise? Unfortunately I’d say it still continues the faltering trend of recent modern FF games.

    The good: -Excellent gameplay. Very epic. -Plenty of areas to explore -Interesting lore -Grim and tragic storytelling -A complete and self contained story -Likeable characters -Loads of side quests    First off let me say, this is a great game. But how does it hold up to the entire FF franchise? Unfortunately I’d say it still continues the faltering trend of recent modern FF games.

    The good: -Excellent gameplay. Very epic. -Plenty of areas to explore
    -Interesting lore
    -Grim and tragic storytelling
    -A complete and self contained story -Likeable characters -Loads of side quests -Beautiful battle music The bad: -Zero reward for exploring. There's no bonus cutscenes, quests, dungeons, or unique treasures to be found by exploring more than required. -The story is pretty predictable. And I feel like all of the epic/memorable scenes were reserved only for the big battles. Everything else kind of dragged. Not every cool scene has to be about a battle. What happened to scenes like the opera from VI, the parade from VIII, or blitzball or the sending from X? Nope. When it's not an epic battle, it's bland. And this was the first FF I can actually say how bored I was. There's sooooo much dialogue that doesn't even advance the plot. And to top it all off, they way dialogue is shot in this game feels so uninspired. Just constantly switching the camera back and forth between your character and the NPC who stands around waiting for you to approach them. It feels very lifeless and monotonous. -The story also feels very uninspired. The older FF games used to have a million unique story ideas and locations. These modern games seem to have one good idea and focus the entire narrative around that. -Even though the characters are likeable, they don't have much depth either. -There are far too many fetch quests -The most forgettable world music
    -The visuals are incredibly dark and grey. The most visually unappealing FF I've played since Dirge of Cerberus. -Finally, there were so many moments where it was obvious that the developers were trying to save money. For example, there were at least 2 dozen times where the cutscene fades to black mid conversation so that the protagonist can update the NPCs on the story. It's incredibly cheesy and lazy. I know I've complained alot here. And look, it's a great game! But it's not a great Final Fantasy game when you compare it to where the franchise once stood.    … Expand
  18. TooBeaster
    Jul 19, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I was very amazed at the graphoc capability of the PS5, but most of it came from cutscenes. FF16 is cutscene heavy and at times it felt as if I was watching an anime rather than playing a game. Luckly, its a very well told stroy and intersting storyline to follow. I was sad to see some gre
    at characters killed off lime Cid and Joshua, but the MC, Clive, is a complete badass. Maybe too overpowered. The final fight felt like when the MC suddenly is more powerful than god himself and felt too easy. The map is very intersting to explore and many variety of enemies and sidequest, but some parts are just ehh. Waloed is just a empty rock with nothing to give and its the final area of the game. It was very disappointing nonetheless. Some sidequest just felt like walking around and talking to diffrent npc with no real significance other than feeling like you're helping the world and building up Clive's reputation. The other characters of the game felt unique and intersting like Cid, Jill, Gav, Joshua, Torgal (ofc) Mid, etc. The cast is amazing just wish you could fight alongside more of them. As a game in general, its very well made and allows all types of players to experience the game how they want to. At times it felt like this game was designed to be paired with the new access controller beacuse of the many rings you can equip to make the game "easier" to play. You can always just not use the rings and play the game as intended and the many combinations of attacks kept every fight interesting and a bit challeging. Overall the game is great with a few thing it could improve on, but still a game I would recommend to anyone who likes a good story with a dark tone.    … Expand
  19. Mainiamanic
    Jul 19, 2023
    8
    Very fun game overall, more so action-oriented than rpg but had a lot of fun with it
  20. Ferem
    Jul 20, 2023
    8
    I start telling that Final Fantasy XVI is a good game and the main story can entertain you very well. Obviously the story line has ups and downs, especially when you have to obtain some item to achieve the new chapter of the story. Sometimes, but this is only my opinion, the story are predictable (I'm thinking about the end of Dion or Joshua, for me not really a twist). The main defect ofI start telling that Final Fantasy XVI is a good game and the main story can entertain you very well. Obviously the story line has ups and downs, especially when you have to obtain some item to achieve the new chapter of the story. Sometimes, but this is only my opinion, the story are predictable (I'm thinking about the end of Dion or Joshua, for me not really a twist). The main defect of this game are the level of difficulty: the fights are too easy and if you want a more challenge from the enemy, you have to wait until the end of the game.
    Another defect could be the almost complete absence of RPG elements:
    - you can't use other party member and even Torgal (the dog) are totally useless;
    - the menu are totally useless and also the equipment you give to Clive, except for the sword
    - no object to grind from specific enemy, neither particular strategy to build for challenge specific enemy
    - the word are amazing, but you can follow only a specific view whit no hidden areas to discover
    - the subquest are not so characterized, so as to become all too similar
    I prefer Squarenix tells to the public from the begin that this are an action game, without any role component, instead of giving false hope to all old fans of the saga.    … Expand
  21. KaizokuPanda
    Jul 21, 2023
    8
    Not certain how I feel about it. Maybe an 8/10.
    No spoilers.
    I just completed the base game doing everything you can do on a first run minus the Chronoliths which are just some challenges I can get to later. Did every side quest as they became available and got all the best gear. Here are my thoughts. I liked it, it was good, but I didn't love it. I really liked most of the    Not certain how I feel about it. Maybe an 8/10.
    No spoilers.

    I just completed the base game doing everything you can do on a first run minus the Chronoliths which are just some challenges I can get to later. Did every side quest as they became available and got all the best gear. Here are my thoughts.

    I liked it, it was good, but I didn't love it. I really liked most of the characters, but the pacing and flow of the game was not great.
    The combat is fun with a lot of ways to play it differently, but the funnest builds aren't necessarily the best ones. I ended up using a sort of super power focused build where I could just play reckless and offensive, which was effective, but kinda mostly just about rotating through abilities and made any combat against groups of enemies trivial.
    The story didn't super land for me. It was good and interesting, but the emotional punches were more like emotional taps on the shoulder for me. Like I knew the moments where I should have been crying as I am apt to do in games and movie/shows, etc. but for whatever reason it never really got me.
    The structure of the game also feels very much like running MSQ on FFXIV and the side quests feel like the blue quests. Same for the camera direction in non FMV cutscenes. The short in-game scenes when talking to NPCs have like the exact same camera direction and character animations from FFXIV lol.

    I still recommend it, but it's kinda a mixed bag. I will say it is like... 70% cutscenes or at least feels like it, so if that isn't your jam, then you might not enjoy it. Its hype moments are super bad ass though, so it was all worth it to me.    … Expand
  22. DrgnmastrAlex
    Sep 1, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'd give this an 8.5 in general, but there's no option for that sadly. There's a great deal I enjoy about the game, and the best parts of FF16 have to do with its characters, dialogue, lore, presentation, and the boss fights and Hunt Mark side quest. There's a few points where the game has some pacing issues, namely due to early side quests (basically before the 50% mark in the game's story) and how the game is attempting to balance periods of combat with cutscenes. That said, if this is a major issue for you, you've never played much of the Final Fantasy franchise (or JRPGs in general), have you?

    This is where I transition to talking about the combat, which is where a lot of the controversy and most polarized and negative criticisms exist. I think a lot of people expected this to play more like Devil May Cry 4/5 or Bayonetta, but that direction would hurt how Square-Enix is trying to open up the game to both JRPG fans and newcomers. The game plays a lot more like NieR: Automata/Replicant, and the enemy variety matches that. The level of complexity in combat is the same in FF16, where you're going to style on most enemy/mob encounters, which serve to put the game's pacing in a somewhat formulaic pattern: narrative/lore/dialogue, exploration, combat, exploration, some more combat, maybe a few sidequests involving a fetch quest or special enemies, then the next part of the main story. The only times you die are when you're fooling around too much. In that regard, the game is easy and very forgiving, but it's still reminding you that there's some challenge.

    The optimal way to handle the more challenging combat encounters is to prioritize attacks that deplete an enemy's break gauge, which leaves them staggered for several seconds, before laying higher standard damage attacks on them. Rinse and repeat. This leads to some players using cheese strategies where they cycle through the same three to four abilities and spam combo attacks, never experimenting with using abilities offensively, defensively, and to outmaneuver or reposition. While the game isn't anywhere near as complex as your standard character action game, its combat is the kind where the more you invest and experiment with the different forms and abilities, the more you get in return to really style on enemies. This is particularly helpful against bosses, some of whom will be unforgiving with their attacks in later stages of their fights.

    tl;dr for this part: don't simply spam Ignition, Will-o-Wikes, and Garuda and Odin abilities. You're the problem if you do.

    If people criticizing the game were to say that it gets repetitive and puts a damper on their enjoyment of the game, I'd understand. Many of the more bombastic moments that are meant to excite can fall flat with those who aren't familiar with tokusatsu-styled presentation or thematic elements carried from past games in the franchise. Most valid critiques specify that, but I'm not seeing that among those who rush to parrot the same hyperbolic claims about the combat and story. It's pretty easy to see who among those who rate the game poorly have never actually played the game, and who were among the hate train when excitement over FF16 grew in strength last December. Thankfully, the endeavors of those who sought to derail the game have failed, and I feel FF16 is being reviewed fairly.

    That brings me to where the game shines the most: the boss fights. Perhaps it's a bit detrimental to FF16's overall experience, but it has this narrative and gameplay flow that reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus, where the game's world and encounters are beautiful, but they serve as a means to carry you to story points and boss fights. Each fight carries its own challenges whether you're playing as Clive or during Eikonic Battles. Masayoshi Soken elevates how impressive these fights are with his music and compositions, and they're definitely a vital part to this game's identity.

    I suppose that's a good place to move on to the last part of this review: FF16's identity. A lot of people ask if this can be considered a Final Fantasy game, and even ask if there is a definitive answer to the question "What makes a Final Fantasy game?" Well, if you've been in the fanbase as long as I have (hard to believe I've followed the series for over 20 years), you'll know there's two tonally distinct halves to the franchise. One stems from FF1 through 7, while the other stems from FF Tactics and 9. 8, 10, the 13 trilogy, 15, Stranger of Paradise, the FF7 remakes, and even Kingdom Hearts share this. The other side covers the Tactics series, Vagrant Story, 11, 12, 14, and this game. Playing this game shows it has a tonal blend of both sides, and it all ties together well, though it's clearly hailing from the Tactics line.

    Easily one of the best games of this year. PC players will be in for a treat when they get their hands on FF16.    … Expand
  23. NoS1337
    Jul 25, 2023
    8
    As a big Final Fantasy fan, I was really looking forward to the new game. I have here after 90h (currently I am at the end of Final Fantasy mode) my plus and negative points recorded.

    Positives: - great characters, well developed - extremely strong story ( had once briefly cried, as a man ) - Next gen graphics, the best water I have seen - wonderful soundtrack, simply Final Fantasy!    As a big Final Fantasy fan, I was really looking forward to the new game. I have here after 90h (currently I am at the end of Final Fantasy mode) my plus and negative points recorded.

    Positives:
    - great characters, well developed
    - extremely strong story ( had once briefly cried, as a man )
    - Next gen graphics, the best water I have seen
    - wonderful soundtrack, simply Final Fantasy!
    - great atmosphere
    - good balance between action and story
    - Esper fights
    - fighting style is fun and brings variation

    negatives:
    - too short
    - side quests partly annoying and too much
    - no real minigames, puzzles, challenges
    - too easy difficulty level
    - very linear, exploring the world is not worth it
    - the crafting system is unfortunately pointless and monotonous
    - a bit too many cutscenes

    I give it an 8.4 out of 10!    … Expand
  24. blend_one
    Jul 27, 2023
    8
    It's a very good game, but it could have been better in my opinion, definitely not 10/10 overall, more like a solid 8/10

    The good: - The story and cutscenes are awesome - The Eikon bossfights are the most epic thing I have ever seen - Eikon skills are very fun and make you feel powerful - The combat is satisfying The bad: - Most side quests are incredibly boring fetch quests -    It's a very good game, but it could have been better in my opinion, definitely not 10/10 overall, more like a solid 8/10

    The good:
    - The story and cutscenes are awesome
    - The Eikon bossfights are the most epic thing I have ever seen
    - Eikon skills are very fun and make you feel powerful
    - The combat is satisfying

    The bad:
    - Most side quests are incredibly boring fetch quests
    - Story can have rollercoasters, after an epic section there is usually a very boring "go around base and talk to 5 people" section
    - RPG elements are poorly implemented and feel unnecessary
    - Item and gear progression is linear, boring and doesn't enable any interesting builds
    - Performance and resolution is absolutely horrendous ( drops to 20-25 fps even in quality mode)
    - Exploring the smaller open areas is meaningless and unrewarding    … Expand
  25. Elien6620
    Jul 29, 2023
    8
    Upon release many claimed that VII wasn't a true FF as it ditched the fantasy aspects, that VIII wasn't one as it was just a "glorified teen romance novel", that IX wasn't one a it was "too cartoony and childish", that X wasn't one is it ditched the traditional levelling system, that XI wasn't one as it was an MMO, that XII wasn't one as it ditched random encounters, that XIII wasn't oneUpon release many claimed that VII wasn't a true FF as it ditched the fantasy aspects, that VIII wasn't one as it was just a "glorified teen romance novel", that IX wasn't one a it was "too cartoony and childish", that X wasn't one is it ditched the traditional levelling system, that XI wasn't one as it was an MMO, that XII wasn't one as it ditched random encounters, that XIII wasn't one as it was just a hallway, that XIV wasn't one because it was another MMO, that XV wasn't one because you had a car and it was an action game, and now that XVI isn't one because it's also an action game and you can't control your party members. Ultimately it depends on what you value; for me, that's a world and narrative that mixes fantasy and science fiction and provides meaningful and emotive interactions between characters in a way that makes you feel as though the unique world your experiencing is actually real. Is it Final Fantasy? To me, 100%.

    Last piece of advice for anyone thinking of picking up the game - Ignore the reviews (including mine if you so choose). The 10/10 reviews generally come from a place of people already deciding that the game was great before it was even out purely because of the team making it, and the more negative reviews tend to come from a place of people already deciding that the game was bad before it was even out mostly because of 'ists' and 'isms', none of which were true. (There's a reason that most negative reviews come across as incredibly pretentious and condescending) The objective truth lies somewhere in the middle - that it is a flawed but ultimately fantastic game worthy of the Final Fantasy title. Not quite on the level of IX or VI, but leagues beyond the likes of VII, XII or even X. If you think this game might be for you, give it a shot and form your own opinion. If it doesn't look like if's for you, then that's a shame, but give it a miss. If you've already decided that you don't WANT it to be for you in classic FF fan fashion, then what are you even doing here?

    Final score - 8.5/10.    … Expand
  26. PaulBa
    Jul 30, 2023
    8
    Pros
    -Nice story -Badass characters -Intense soundtrack
    -Epic boss fights Cons
    -Repetitive combat without any strategically thinking on it
    -Use only of one character -Extremely boring side quests and filler moments
    -Some Eikon battles are too long over 20-30 minutes fight
  27. traapecista
    Aug 2, 2023
    8
    La historia principal me ha parecido increíble, con unos personajes carismáticos y únicos. Un gran final y unas batallas increíbles.

    Lo que más echa para atrás son la misiones secundarias, ya que cortan mucho el ritmo y la mayoría de ellas son ridículas e innecesarias. El rendimiento es bastante mejorable, pero ojo, su diseño artístico deja unos paisajes top.
  28. Kur0
    Aug 8, 2023
    8
    Lo primero de todo vamos a dejarlo claro, final fantasy XVI no es un juego perfecto, poco se le puede criticar que no se le haya criticado ya.

    Misiones secundarias que son un infierno, bajadas drásticas de fps, ritmo irregular... pero PESE A TODO me quito el sombrero, su historia me ha tenido enganchado y lo he disfrutado de principio a fin y debo reconocer que en algunos momentos me    Lo primero de todo vamos a dejarlo claro, final fantasy XVI no es un juego perfecto, poco se le puede criticar que no se le haya criticado ya.

    Misiones secundarias que son un infierno, bajadas drásticas de fps, ritmo irregular...

    pero PESE A TODO me quito el sombrero, su historia me ha tenido enganchado y lo he disfrutado de principio a fin y debo reconocer que en algunos momentos me ha hecho soltar una lagrimita

    juego MUY recomendable.

    Por cierto Clive es un personaje memorable.    … Expand
  29. DeathGigas
    Aug 8, 2023
    8
    It is absolutely not a Jrpg but an Action Adventure. A clear change from the past
    A step forward for sure compared to that crap that was the XV
    A step forward in terms of Story, Narration, Characters, Lore, Artistic Direction, Direction and Soundtrack Combat System cross and delight, well done, spectacular but the difficulty level is too low. Rpg side non-existent, it's just a decoy. A    It is absolutely not a Jrpg but an Action Adventure. A clear change from the past
    A step forward for sure compared to that crap that was the XV
    A step forward in terms of Story, Narration, Characters, Lore, Artistic Direction, Direction and Soundtrack
    Combat System cross and delight, well done, spectacular but the difficulty level is too low. Rpg side non-existent, it's just a decoy. A game that is basically based on the elements there are no elemental weaknesses and resistances. Absence of altered statuses
    On the one hand, I'm happy for all those who have killed and hated the XIII
    The Bosses have the flaw that once an HP threshold is exceeded if you ever die you start again from that threshold and moreover having all the potions again
    The very superfluous levels, equipment and shops
    This is pretty much a XIII done better
    It's pretty much Linear as much as that, we have pretty much the same sequence exploited. Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene, Fight. Exploration is bare bones not to say empty world. The Dungeons another negative note
    The secondaries are all fetch quests on a positive note they are well written, they improve your knowledge of the world they have created. It doesn't give you much incentive to go out fighting due to the lack of experience they give you and on top of that the rewards are mostly all useless.
    There is a lack of minigames    … Expand
  30. Fayh
    Aug 15, 2023
    8
    Beautiful graphic, great story and soundtrack, but could use more in depth RPG features like a proper party system and more impactful gear.
  31. Goldmembah
    Aug 16, 2023
    8
    Peleas de jefes excelentes y también su historia, lo que no me gustó nada es que el personaje no corre y camina muy lento en los pueblos y el mundo abierto, además caminas 10 muertos y te salta una cinemática y luego otra y las misiones secundarias dan pereza de hacer, parece que solo las pusieron para rellenar el juego.
  32. JellyMan_33
    Aug 18, 2023
    8
    Overall big fan of the game, it was a blast, and there is a lot to love here.

    Visuals- It's gorgeous, some of the best animations in gaming. The character models at times can be a tad hit or miss, but the locales, the cutscenes and the animations during fights are sublime! Sound- We all know FF kills it here always. Once again it's very strong, the musical score is varied, with    Overall big fan of the game, it was a blast, and there is a lot to love here.

    Visuals- It's gorgeous, some of the best animations in gaming. The character models at times can be a tad hit or miss, but the locales, the cutscenes and the animations during fights are sublime!

    Sound- We all know FF kills it here always. Once again it's very strong, the musical score is varied, with more darker tones but still has some upbeat songs as well. There's enough variety to keep you going in a longer game. It's not the best ever but still very very good.

    Gameplay- This will divide some fans, it has for a couple years and iterations now. It's fun, the different stances definitely increase the enjoyment of the combat, and it does take awhile for you to get all of these for sure. I'd say it did get a bit repetitive for me personally, just felt too similat to other action games. Just another version of different stances etc, this time it's eikons with grant different spells. It was fun, but in my opinion not the best facet of the game, and I still found myself wishing for a classic turn based rpg more "ff10 style" But this is the route they chose to go and its alright.

    Story- Okay, so plot is actually where this game shines a bit! The characters are well voice acted and actually have some personality. I found myself really liking Clive and his story with his family and all that happens in the world. It is back to more high fantasy feel, but the whole eikon branded people concept with nations fighting over its' users etc was well pushed. Pacing int he story felt good as well, there were some well timed twists and just as you settle in things will pick up or shock you.

    Okay, so great game, it's not groundbreaking. It's not a 9 or 10 out of 10. Very much recommend playing it, it's worth full game price, especially if you're an action game/ final fantasy fan. I still wish for a new final fantasy brings back the FF10 approach of cinematic turn based, but I think those days are done :( Fun, action game with some great visuals and music, gameplay will get repetitive throughout a pretty hefty story that keeps you going!    … Expand
  33. flpncc
    Aug 20, 2023
    8
    Great game, but the pace is too slow and performance is poor. But again, great game, definitely worth playing!
  34. Vegal
    Aug 22, 2023
    8
    Es un muy buen juego, divertido con unos muy buenos gráficos, combates épicos, una buena historia y una música que para mi es de lo mejor que hay actualmente. Como videojuego es bueno. Como Final Fantasy no tanto, el contenido RPG es muy pobre. No hay personalización en equipo, simplemente te pones lo que te dé 4 puntos mas de daño o defensa. Es en esencia un juego de acción. Vale la penaEs un muy buen juego, divertido con unos muy buenos gráficos, combates épicos, una buena historia y una música que para mi es de lo mejor que hay actualmente. Como videojuego es bueno. Como Final Fantasy no tanto, el contenido RPG es muy pobre. No hay personalización en equipo, simplemente te pones lo que te dé 4 puntos mas de daño o defensa. Es en esencia un juego de acción. Vale la pena jugarlo?, mi respuesta es un rotundo SI. Pero debes enfocarte en lo que el juego promete y no en lo que nunca pretendió ser.… Expand
  35. Tracking
    Aug 28, 2023
    8
    Neutral: Took me about 55 hours to complete the main story, side quests and hunts.

    Good: The game looks great, has an interesting setting and fun combat. It is not a grindy game.

    Bad: It's a bit on the easy side. At times the frequency of cut scene made it feel like I was palying an interactive novel instead of an action game.
  36. Pacheconsky
    Aug 29, 2023
    8
    Buen juego, buenas gráfica en PS5, buena historia pero que se va desinflando. se vuelve muy repetitivo en cuanto a combate, en cuanto te sientes cómodo con una combinación no necesitas variarla mas, el punto mas alto de la historia es el inicio. Buen juego pero lejos de los mejores FF.
  37. AfroSamorai
    Sep 1, 2023
    8
    Good game, the art and graphics were amazing one of the first games to fully utilize the PS5, the characters are alright but the side missions were just boring still overall a good game that i would recommend
  38. Elkalb
    Sep 2, 2023
    8
    Very solid. Enjoyed the story and big set pieces, all the ingredients of a great game, just has a few flaws. Didn’t really enjoy most of the side quests for example. Although 15 was a weaker overall game, it had lower lows but higher highs, I look back fondly on the bonds between the characters as something quite special. Final Fantasy XVI is a very good game and probably a very good entryVery solid. Enjoyed the story and big set pieces, all the ingredients of a great game, just has a few flaws. Didn’t really enjoy most of the side quests for example. Although 15 was a weaker overall game, it had lower lows but higher highs, I look back fondly on the bonds between the characters as something quite special. Final Fantasy XVI is a very good game and probably a very good entry for newcomers.… Expand
  39. AGreeNer
    Sep 9, 2023
    8
    Final Fantasy 16 captivated my heart with its enthralling narrative, intriguing characters, and breathtaking visuals. Let's delve into the highs and lows that influenced my score.

    Story & Performances: The narrative, albeit somewhat predictable, remained engaging. The journey propels players through uncharted territories; albeit linear at first, there's more exploration as the game    Final Fantasy 16 captivated my heart with its enthralling narrative, intriguing characters, and breathtaking visuals. Let's delve into the highs and lows that influenced my score.

    Story & Performances: The narrative, albeit somewhat predictable, remained engaging. The journey propels players through uncharted territories; albeit linear at first, there's more exploration as the game progresses. Sadly, these expanses lack intriguing discoveries.

    As for performances, the cast delivered impeccably. Clyde, Cid, Jill, and Benedicta showcased stellar portrayals, setting a high bar for immersion. Though the side characters could benefit further development, the primary ensemble held their own brilliantly.

    Gameplay: The gameplay was satisfying. The build and ability diversity suggest multiple play styles, keeping things fresh. Boss battles stand out, not for their complexity, but for their awe-inspiring aesthetics.

    Side Quests: Admittedly, these were a letdown. Although they occasionally provided insights into the broader world, they often felt more like hindrances than delights. A scant few offered valuable rewards, but the majority seemed like uninspired filler. For completionists, wading through lackluster side quests can be tedious.

    RPG Elements: A crucial component for any Final Fantasy title, yet they seemed underwhelming here. While Clyde's abilities offered some build variety, the armor and weaponry system felt lackluster. Armor and weapon progression tied too closely to main missions, with few exceptions, which diminished player choice. Trinket equipping introduced some depth, but its impact felt minimal.

    To end on a positive note, despite my criticisms, I truly cherished my time with FF16. It stands as a memorable title in the series, and my favorite since FF12.

    My rating suffered a slight deduction due to the trophy unlock system requiring a game replay. A note to developers: please reconsider such mechanisms. They're more irksome than rewarding.    … Expand
  40. Luisvi
    Sep 9, 2023
    8
    Buena historia con un gran combate, aunque con unos fallos de exploración y misiones secundarias propios de anteriores generaciones.
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. 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
  48. 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
  49. 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
  50. 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.
  51. 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
  52. 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
  53. 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
  54. 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
  55. 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
  56. 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?
  57. 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
  58. 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
  59. 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
  60. 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
  61. 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
  62. 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
  63. 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.
  64. 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
  65. 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
  66. 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.
  67. 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.
  68. 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.
  69. 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
  70. 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
  71. 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
  72. 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.
  73. 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
  74. 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
  75. 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
  76. 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
  77. 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
  78. 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
  79. 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
  80. 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.
  81. 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
  82. 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.
  83. PavPav
    Jun 24, 2023
    7
    Quite dated level design,empty world.
    Great cutscenes and good story.
    Was expecting more from FF series
  84. 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
  85. 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
  86. 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
  87. 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.
  88. ZajebioSSa
    Sep 5, 2023
    7
    The game is very uneven, from the storyline to the quests but still i was nice adventure.
  89. 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
  90. 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
  91. 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
  92. 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 ??
  93. 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
  94. 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! :)
  95. 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
  96. 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
  97. 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.
  98. 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
  99. 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
  100. 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
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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]
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