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. DemonFoxKyubi
    Sep 7, 2023
    10
    First entry to final fantasy and loving every single bit of it great action and mechanics , really like the bosses in the game with high quality cut scenes, exploration and items could’ve been a bit better but but nonetheless really GREAT story worth every penny highly recommend.
  2. terryuse
    Sep 8, 2023
    10
    Fantastic game and Eikon fight is amazing! so good!! .
  3. Sylphrena1
    Sep 9, 2023
    10
    Character- 10/10
    Story - 10/10
    Gameplay - 10/10
    Music - 10/10
    Graphics - 10/10
  4. 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
  5. Kalnivia
    Jul 11, 2023
    7
    100% complete. The overall gameplay and main story is fantastic, probably 8-9/10. Unfortunately it's let down by subpar side quests and far too easy mob fights. The RPG side is the worst part of the game which is odd for an FF game, albeit FFXV had the same issue, although even the gameplay didn't make up for it there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

    World. Again some great inside areas. All the outside areas look like ps3 and blurry. Replay. Never again. I wanted it to be over with how generic the battles were. Such a waste of time. Cant wait to get back to FF7 rebirth.    … Expand
  9. 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.
  10. Fragmaster5000
    Jul 11, 2023
    5
    Just does not like a classic FF game to me anymore. The game in itself is fine, but surely is not FF to me anymore.
  11. Redrumi
    Jul 19, 2023
    6
    I don't know why people keep saying its original or brave new direction when its basically a watered down version of the Witcher and other much better action rpgs. And that description is generous. Also most of the character facial design, especially for the female characters, are awful and all look alike. Save time and just watch the cutscenes on youtube. Then Xenoblade instead if youI don't know why people keep saying its original or brave new direction when its basically a watered down version of the Witcher and other much better action rpgs. And that description is generous. Also most of the character facial design, especially for the female characters, are awful and all look alike. Save time and just watch the cutscenes on youtube. Then Xenoblade instead if you want a epic rpg with great combat and a full party of characters to care about.… Expand
  12. Spaceycakey1987
    Jul 21, 2023
    6
    Great story and graphics with weak weapon and end game side content disappointed at lack of party and weapon options crafting system is overly basic and hunt system is 1 of the weakest in the franchise theres no lore or anything unique to any of them there just reskined mobs you fight during the story with an extra move unlike past games like gilgamesh from ff12 or adamantoise from ff15Great story and graphics with weak weapon and end game side content disappointed at lack of party and weapon options crafting system is overly basic and hunt system is 1 of the weakest in the franchise theres no lore or anything unique to any of them there just reskined mobs you fight during the story with an extra move unlike past games like gilgamesh from ff12 or adamantoise from ff15 ect combat revolves around spamming abilities on a timer enemy's have no weakness and theres no status effects elemental buffs and weakness at all the verity of mobs is also lacking compared to past entrys theres no verity in weapons either just the same 1 handed sword reskined with slightly higher damage and stagger stats nothing feels unique even the ultima blade the world itself is beautifully detailed but is not worth exploring as game does reward you for doing so there is no super bosses or dungeons I would have rated lower if not for the story'main fights which are impressive but unfortunatly the game lacks the depth of others in the franchise outside of the main story with endgame now being new game plus which just ads an extra mob or two to story fights and increases level cap from 50 to 100 on a slightly higher difficulty ultimately the game looks impressive but fails in the rpg elements this franchise in known for so much so I would argue it's not an rpg at all but a character action game… Expand
  13. Thiccbob
    Jul 23, 2023
    5
    First of all, I think people should wait until they actually finish the game before rating the game a 10 or a 0 after only 6 hours of gameplay. So, I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, since first playing FFX as a kid. So it pains me to give this game such a low score. I thought the series had hit rock bottom with 15, and maybe it technically had, and while the two are very different, I feelFirst of all, I think people should wait until they actually finish the game before rating the game a 10 or a 0 after only 6 hours of gameplay. So, I'm a lifelong Final Fantasy fan, since first playing FFX as a kid. So it pains me to give this game such a low score. I thought the series had hit rock bottom with 15, and maybe it technically had, and while the two are very different, I feel like both of them are a low point in the series.

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

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

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

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

    Overall it's not terrible, but I just don't see any lasting appeal with this game. After I beat the game, I just had no desire to play it. Like ever again. I spoke with a few people who also bought the game, and they feel pretty much the same way I do. It's fun at first but really overstays it's welcome.    … Expand
  14. cid33
    Jul 24, 2023
    6
    The good? epic boss battles, amazing music, interesting story. The bad everything else. It feels like bootleg Witcher.
    Combat is repetitive and boring, way to easy with enemies having excessive hp, fighting the same 10 enemies the entire game, small enemy vith axesword, big guy with hammeraxe, flying bird, wyvern, bomb, and then some of the worst reskinre color I have encountered a AAA    The good? epic boss battles, amazing music, interesting story. The bad everything else. It feels like bootleg Witcher.
    Combat is repetitive and boring, way to easy with enemies having excessive hp, fighting the same 10 enemies the entire game, small enemy vith axesword, big guy with hammeraxe, flying bird, wyvern, bomb, and then some of the worst reskinre color I have encountered a AAA game. Boss battles consist of on the rails QTE nightmares. They do look epic tho, but this is not supposed to be a interactive movie. Sidequest and exploring feel like a chore and reward nothing but crafting materials that you craft 1 thing with at start of chapter then they pileup in inventory by the thousands. Enemies level with each chapter making leveling irrelevant as they stay at your level and you don't feel like you grow in strength. Visuals are amazing if it wasn't for choppy framerate and horrendous blur, the blur got patched tho, still sucked for half the game Animation is horrible reusing the same animation for 90% of the game, zoom in on Clive he waves hand zoom in on NPC shoulder shrug zoom to Clive reaches for camera to giveget item. Main character voice is like the town drunk woke up in the snow to cold to express or speak words instead of mumbling them. Barely showing feelings true game except for some random times in battle. The rest are good voice acting.    … Expand
  15. SpikeVexid
    Jul 11, 2023
    6
    Final Fantasy XVI é épico, a história, as batalhas com chefes... e só isso mesmo, o jogo oscila demais entre o épico e o trivial, uma hora você está tendo batalhas de proporções megalomaníacas, e em seguida, esta pegando uma erva pra um subordinado no esconderijo em que você é o chefe. As side Quests, apesar de algumas até te situarem de como está o mundo e outras melhorarem algumFinal Fantasy XVI é épico, a história, as batalhas com chefes... e só isso mesmo, o jogo oscila demais entre o épico e o trivial, uma hora você está tendo batalhas de proporções megalomaníacas, e em seguida, esta pegando uma erva pra um subordinado no esconderijo em que você é o chefe. As side Quests, apesar de algumas até te situarem de como está o mundo e outras melhorarem algum equipamento do personagem, eles tem personagens pouco interessantes e sempre envoltos em um drama que permeia toda a história de uma forma que nada te surpreende mais, o sofrimento é o mesmo pro mundo todo então tem uma hora que vc só quer que eles parem de chorar e que você avance logo pra finalizar o jogo e acabar com o sofrimento mundial. A exploração e a descoberta nos mundos incríveis de Final Fantasy também não existem mais. não existem raças ou culturas variadas, quando tem, não te surpreendem. Voltar pra um esconderijo depois de uma missão e sempre ver aquele mesmo ambiente durante toda a jornada que parece mais vc saindo de casa e voltando depois de ir no shopping,, padaria, mercado e afins, torna massante a avenura em momentos onde as batalhas épicas não estão acontecendo. Upar o Clive também se tornou uma tarefa chata, você não sente a evolução do Clive se ele não pegar um novo Eikon, e quando você tem seus preferidos e upa suas habilidades, eles tem um limite e os pontos ganhos vc pode upar habilidades que não quer usar, ou só deixar lá acumulando pra na, tentando melhorar seu dano com level que vc demora pra ganhar e nem sente diferença.
    A escolha por gráficos ao invés de expandir o jogo com um mundo maior e mais rico, armaduras diferentes, armas novas, culturas variadas e problemas diferentes, tornou este final fantasy, uma versão desidratada onde deixaram só aquilo que o povo sempre aclamou como aspectos importantes de um todo muito maior que deixaram de lado mas que fazia muita diferença olhando agora só história e gráficos isolado de ótimas mecânicas    … Expand
  16. Coralpearlz
    Jul 23, 2023
    5
    Fine action-game, but it's barely even an RPG/JRPG and feels ashamed to be an Final Fantasy title at times.
  17. Jon0Fun
    Aug 14, 2023
    8
    Not my favourite Final Fantasy but defiantly in my top 5.
    Has a great story (mostly) and great characters, the biggest downside for me though was the lack of party members and the fact you only control Clive.
    That said Clive and his on again off again "party" are still better than FF15's BTS on a road trip.
  18. BadLarry
    Jul 29, 2023
    6
    A pretty weak and forgettable entry in the core Final Fantasy series. I've through all of the numbered FF games since the first one released on NES. The good stuff first: I do enjoy the action based combat which has a crisp and quick feel like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Boss fights are particularly enjoyable and you can scale the difficulty to suit how deep you want to go. GraphicsA pretty weak and forgettable entry in the core Final Fantasy series. I've through all of the numbered FF games since the first one released on NES. The good stuff first: I do enjoy the action based combat which has a crisp and quick feel like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Boss fights are particularly enjoyable and you can scale the difficulty to suit how deep you want to go. Graphics are very good and there are some truly stunning sequences. Now on to the bad. 16 might be the most boring of the bunch outside of the huge but few cinematic clashes. You spend a lot of time in the generic swamp or grasslands fields fighting repetitive enemies. A lot of RPG elements have been stripped away to the point that there's very little use for the money that you earn in the game. Only 3 pieces of equipment with essentially only 2 stats each. Side quests are really afterthoughts that add little to the plot or universe and aren't very rewarding. I really missed having a cast of protagonists that you team up with, have their own unique stories, and you come to love as they develop. This game seems much smaller since it's really a one man show. You get temporary sidekicks but you don't have any control over them at all. The biggest gripe i have which is worth 4 points off the score alone is how the game cheats you out of really experiencing the world it's set in. The world is broken up into kingdoms each with their own mountain sized crystal shards. It's clear from a distance that the fantastical cities sprung up around these crystals. When you see the cities at a distance, you get excited to finally leave the generic wilderness that 90% of the game takes place in. Eventually you go to these crystals as part of the main plot, so you assume on the way you'll get to pass through these amazing looking cities. You'd be wrong. The first time, your allies talk of a secret tunnel to sneak in. Once you initiate that key mission, you literally warp from home base to within a stones throw of the objective, skipping over ever getting to see that city or any of the world on the way. They cut a big chunk out of the 'adventure' of this well....adventure. Kinda like Frodo and Sam setting out to Mordor and five minutes later they're there dropping the ring in Mount Doom. This was disappointing the first time. It's downright insulting that this happens every time you have a big 'mission'. There's a secret tunnel, back entrance, or mine shaft that you end up sneaking right up to the boss through and never get to see any of the locations. It's generic fields, or generic dungeons, and not much more. Almost as if the devs blew their budget on the big 'eikon' battles and didn't have any time or money to develop the rest of the world. A truly shameful design tactic.… Expand
  19. shado474
    Jul 16, 2023
    8
    While the game overall feels like a high-quality game, there are clear shortcomings in world-building and story-telling. The story has its high points, but there is an overall lack of soul and atmosphere and very few characters are likeable. For a game that seems to push for realism, it has its fair share of unrealistic progression, dialogues and animation. The combat is satisfyingWhile the game overall feels like a high-quality game, there are clear shortcomings in world-building and story-telling. The story has its high points, but there is an overall lack of soul and atmosphere and very few characters are likeable. For a game that seems to push for realism, it has its fair share of unrealistic progression, dialogues and animation. The combat is satisfying although it feels more like a hit 'em up at times and the difficulty level is very low even on action mode. The absence of weaknesses or resistance against attack types also makes all the fights pretty much more of the same old thing. The OST is forgettable, but it has a few great tracks that stand out. The frame rate is all over the place while exploring, in what the game calls "Performance mode", which is quite disappointing for a PS5 release.… Expand
  20. Rix91
    Jul 9, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game tells a great story, and it does it in a visually stunning way. I cannot think of any modern game that does spectacle combat as well as FF16 does. Underneath that, however, is a really shallow game. The combat receiving so much praise has felt strange to me, because while it is beautiful and bombastic, it’s flawed in design. The stagger system encourages you to *not* use your abilities until your enemy is staggered, due to the often long cooldown times. So during boss fights, you will find yourself just smacking the boss with your sword forever while you chip away at their stagger bar so you can drop all of your big abilities at once. Rinse and repeat usually 2-3 times before the boss dies.

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

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

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

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

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

    The RPG aspect regarding gear customization and play style abilities were superficial. Doesn't matter what boss you encounter, just spam the same combos to defeat. The game is incredibly easy.    … Expand
  22. 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
  23. Kailo09
    Aug 1, 2023
    7
    I'm a huge FF fan, especially of CBU3 as I have put in over 800 hours into FF14. So I went into FF16 with high expectations. The game has the highest of high's but is drastically brought down due to poor pacing and terrible side quests.

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

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

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

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

    Cons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    I sound very negative on the game but the game makes it through to a 7 out of 10 thanks to its excellent characters, main story and spectacle of events. The pacing and RPG elements of the game really drag it down due to their poor execution and I almost wish they just made a full on action game that is 25 hours long with none of the filler and weak RPG elements.    … Expand
  24. 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
  25. Stawkuj
    Jul 25, 2023
    6
    Story and music are great but gameplay lack what made FF series unique.

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

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

    + Eikon battles are great and probably the best of all FFs
  26. CaballitoRojo
    Jul 10, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ni es un gran juego, ni está a la altura de la saga. No se han currado absolutamente nada. El final fantasy xv está muchísimo más currado. La gente que le pone mucha puntuación no se por que, tienen el listón muy bajo. No te creas lo que dicen los youtubers están comprados. La historia es pésima, ni se han esforzado, terminas pasando todas las parrafadas que sueltan por que dicen tonterías. Y eso que lo he puesto en acción, si llego poner historia... me muero del asco. Le pongo un 6 por los combates, gráficos.… Expand
  27. 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
  28. Guiyerod444
    Jul 8, 2023
    6
    The game is a movie game let's make it clear. Everything relating to this is good: plot, cutscenes, characters, etc...

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

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

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

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

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

    Very average game dressed as a ''GOTY candidate'', it makes a great movie because everything that is not gameplay is very very good however if you look to the gaming aspect it's utter **** and very lazy coming from such a huge AAA company.    … Expand
  29. Rynosully
    Jul 8, 2023
    6
    Not a true Final Fantasy. If you are looking for an RPG you will be disappointed with this one. I’ve been a fan since the first Final Fantasy and at 45 years old this one is as disappointing as FFXIII was to me. Please go back to your RPG roots. This is not what I expect from a Final Fantasy experience.
  30. jonnyfiftka
    Jul 9, 2023
    6
    I think that this is a very strange game. There are parts that are good (combat, which can shine only through boss fights and some elite monsters/hunts, spectacle and music) and then there is really bad stuff (extremely dry writting, specially side quests, npc keep on talking and talking, soo many cutscenes, repetetive combat encounters, repetetive gameplay loop, non existent rpgI think that this is a very strange game. There are parts that are good (combat, which can shine only through boss fights and some elite monsters/hunts, spectacle and music) and then there is really bad stuff (extremely dry writting, specially side quests, npc keep on talking and talking, soo many cutscenes, repetetive combat encounters, repetetive gameplay loop, non existent rpg progression elements, where 9 out of 10 times you get to make new equipment you already have the items and the upgrades are so boring too.) Personaly I do not like the muted brown, gray color palete, which this game has most of the time. I get It that this is the end of the world mood, but still. This game feels like crippled FFXIV, It plays exactly the same (ofc the combat is different), exept, in FFXIV there is so many other things you can do.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 146 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 134 out of 146
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 146
  3. Negative: 0 out of 146
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 22, 2024
    100
    Final Fantasy XVI is an excellent game in every way. If you're a fan of the series for the stories and characters, you won't go wrong here, and if you've avoided the series for, say, turn-based combat, the sixteenth installment offers the perfect opportunity to get started with this legend of the gaming industry. [Issue#329]
  2. Riot Pixels
    Oct 30, 2023
    73
    This is a solid RPG/action game. Some elements of the game are unusual and fresh for single-player parts of the Final Fantasy series, but some are too dull and rudimentary.
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  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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